First Amendment

C.J. Ciaramella | 12.18.2025 2:28 PM

The Trump administration is using a law against impeding federal law enforcement to threaten and arrest people who are recording and protesting immigration officers. However, an unprecedented number of those cases are falling apart once they go to court, according to media investigations, think tank reports, and voluminous court records and video evidence.

The Cato Institute published a report on Monday detailing dozens of instances of federal immigration officers threatening people with arrest for following and recording them, which is protected under the First Amendment. The report, authored by David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, follows a December 4 memo by Attorney General Pam Bondi ordering federal law enforcement to prioritize alleged "domestic terrorism." Among the acts Bondi defines as domestic terrorism are "doxing" and "conspiracies to impede or assault law enforcement."

The language of the latter is important because it mirrors that of a federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 111, which makes it a crime to assault or impede federal law enforcement officers.

Bier concluded that the amount of video evidence, in conjunction with the memo, amounts to "an official, nationwide policy of intimidating and threatening people who attempt to observe and record [Department of Homeland Security (DHS)] operations."

"In a series of videos that I have compiled over the past few weeks, [Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] and DHS agents are seen pulling over people who follow them and issuing scripted 'warnings' that the observers will be arrested if they continue recording," Bier wrote. "Finally, just this week, Border Patrol agents made multiple arrests of ICE observers."

In many instances, officers reference the statute. In one example Bier collected, Border Patrol agents stopped a woman in Charlotte, North Carolina, to claim: "18 U.S.C. § 111.…If someone is honking and shouting 'la migra, la migra, ICE, Border Patrol,' they're impeding our investigations."

Although the Supreme Court hasn't weighed in on the issue, seven federal circuit courts have, and they all upheld the First Amendment right to........

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