Over the past few months, thousands of people across the United States have organized to oppose and confront the massive wave of deportations rolled out by the Donald Trump administration.

These spectacular forms of protest — from demonstrations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centres to neighbourhood organizing in Minneapolis and Chicago — have captured public attention.

But there is another, less visible struggle underway: the struggle for information. Social activists are wrangling data and exposing the networks of powerful entities behind Trump’s expanding surveillance apparatus.

Mijente, a grassroorts organization advocating for the rights of Latinx communities in the U.S., for example, has been leading the way since Trump’s first term. Through their No Tech for ICE campaign, they have systematically documented the emergence of a sweeping surveillance regime that exposes people in the U.S. to unprecedented forms of scrutiny — in their homes, cars, workplaces and libraries.

Our team interviewed members of the collective for a research project called the Data Justice Hub about groups using data for social justice. One of the clearest examples they shared with us dates back to August 2019.

How ICE knew where to look

Mijente told us about a large-scale immigration crackdown when 680 workers at food processing plants across Mississippi were arrested by ICE. A Mijente member (who requested anonymity) recalled:

“They were going into people’s neighbourhoods, into people’s workplaces and arresting large numbers of people. Folks were asking us: How did they know where to go? How did they know where I lived? How did they know what car I drive? How did they know who my family was?”

“They were going into people’s neighbourhoods, into people’s workplaces and arresting large numbers of people. Folks were asking us: How did they know where to go? How did they know where I........

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