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Former Minnesota state<\/span> Sen. Matt Little was lawfully observing federal immigration agents in a Dakota County neighborhood last month when the drive took an unexpected turn.<\/p>\n As he followed their vehicles, they led him down a rural road that grew increasingly familiar during the 20-minute drive. Soon, Little told The Intercept, he realized where the federal agents were headed: his house.<\/p>\n When he approached his driveway, two SUVs were already waiting, Little said. Agents moved to block his car, claiming he had impeded their investigation and that local law enforcement would be called. No other officers came to his house, and Little was not cited or charged.<\/p>\n \u201cThe intent was clearly to intimidate us. It\u2019s stressful. It\u2019s a little bit scary. But at the same time,\u201d Little said, \u201cI just think it\u2019s really important to be out there and monitoring what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Interviews, sworn declarations, and video reviewed by The Intercept indicate that Little is not the only person subjected to this kind of intimidation. Across the Twin Cities, immigration agents have identified legal observers by name and address<\/a>, and, in some cases, led them back to their homes after they engaged in lawful monitoring of immigration activity. Legal observers say this pattern of behavior sends a clear and chilling message: The federal government knows who they are and where they live.<\/p>\n These encounters are unfolding amid a rapid expansion of federal surveillance capabilities.<\/p>\n Immigration authorities have significantly expanded their use of mobile biometric and surveillance tools in recent years. Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection, for example, can use the smartphone app Mobile Fortify<\/a> to photograph a person\u2019s face or capture fingerprints in the field and compare them against federal biometric databases, according to a Department of Homeland Security inventory of artificial intelligence technologies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe make sure to lock the door now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Those tools operate within a broader surveillance infrastructure that includes automated license plate readers, commercial data brokers<\/a>, and face recognition systems<\/a>. A 2022 report<\/a> from Georgetown Law\u2019s Center on Privacy and Technology found ICE can access driver\u2019s license data covering roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults, including state photo databases that can be searched using face recognition technology.<\/p>\n Civil liberties advocates say the growing web of identification tools has enabled federal agents to quickly identify anyone who monitors or protests their actions \u2014 chilling protected First Amendment activity and deterring the legal observation of law enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe make sure to lock the door now,\u201d said Little. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely heightened our awareness. I\u2019m scared when I\u2019m out there. But for me, it\u2019s a lot scarier to just sit at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n Attorneys and community observers say similar fears are emerging across the Twin Cities even as Operation Metro Surge is said to be winding down.<\/p>\n Beth Jackson, a longtime St. Paul resident and grandmother who participates in a local network of volunteer observers, described one frightening encounter that escalated quickly. According to Jackson and a heavily redacted police report reviewed by The Intercept, local officers surrounded her vehicle with guns drawn after a federal agent alleged that she made violent threats. Jackson denies the allegation, and her attorney said no criminal charges were filed.<\/p>\n Jackson said agents never explained how they identified her. In prior encounters, she said, federal officers told her they had been to her home and knew where she lived, which she interpreted as an attempt at intimidation.<\/p>\n Days later, Jackson said she received notice that her Transportation Security Administration PreCheck status, for moving more quickly through airport security, would be revoked based on the same incident.<\/p>\n Jackson was among four sources active in legal observation in Minnesota who described the panic they experienced after federal agents revealed knowledge of their identities.<\/p>\n \u201cI live here. I commute on these streets every day. I am a grandmother of six, a mother of three. We should be just living our simple little life, and we can\u2019t,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Court filings reviewed<\/span> by The Intercept describe encounters strikingly similar to those reported by Twin Cities legal observers.<\/p>\n The accounts appear in Tincher v. Noem, a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Twin Cities residents who say they were unlawfully targeted while monitoring immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n In a sworn declaration, Edina resident Emily Beltz said she was lawfully following an unmarked federal vehicle in January when a woman in the passenger seat leaned out of the SUV window and began shouting her name.<\/p>\n \u201cEmily, Emily, we\u2019re going to take you home,\u201d the masked agent yelled, according to Beltz\u2019s declaration, before repeating her name and home address in what Beltz described as a mocking tone.<\/p>\n Beltz said the message alarmed her. \u201cI was freaked out,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe agents had told me, in effect, that they knew where I lived and could come and get me and my family at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n Beltz said the encounter left her fearful about continuing her work as a legal observer.<\/p>\n In a separate declaration, Minneapolis resident Katherine Henly described following suspected ICE vehicles when agents suddenly stopped on her block and began photographing her home.<\/p>\n \u201cThis seemed like a clear attempt to intimidate me and my family,\u201d Henly wrote. She said masked agents later exited their vehicles, with one officer carrying what she described as a large firearm and accused observers of impeding enforcement. Henly said the observers had maintained a safe distance.<\/p>\n She said she feared the images of her home and vehicle could be stored in a government database, and that the encounter left her \u201cextremely shaken and scared\u201d and worried about the safety of her young children.<\/p>\n Civil liberties advocates say the reported conduct raises broader constitutional concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing immigration and law enforcement officers take photos of observers, call them by name, follow observers home, and tell observers that they are being tracked in a database. This practice of intimidation is chilling communities across the country, even though documenting and protesting law enforcement operations are protected by the First Amendment,\u201d said Byul Yoon, a Skadden Fellow with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.<\/p>\n While many encounters<\/span> described by observers involve surveillance and intimidation, some have escalated into far more dangerous confrontations.<\/p>\n Ed Higgins, a longtime legal observer and Marine Corps veteran in Columbia Heights, Minnesota \u2014 the city where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos<\/a> was detained earlier this year \u2014 said he has witnessed encounters that turned violent. In some cases, he feared for his life.<\/p>\n On February 5, Higgins said a group of federal agents pursued him through the city and repeatedly tried to force him off the road. As the pursuit unfolded, Higgins called 911, telling the dispatcher that the vehicles following him appeared to be immigration agents and that they were \u201ctrying to run into me right now,\u201d according to video obtained by The Intercept.<\/p>\n\n