DHS faces lawsuits over alleged domestic terrorism watchlist

DHS domestic – A DHS watchlist fight is playing out in federal court as Maine residents and other plaintiffs describe threats after photographing or monitoring ICE activity, while additional cases accuse the agency of collecting sensitive biometric data and DNA samples tied

For Carlyn Williams and Xenia Pantos. it started with something they insist was ordinary—pulling over to observe federal immigration enforcement and taking photographs. Days and weeks later. they say. DHS showed up in their lives in ways that turned routine documentation into something far more frightening.

On January 20. 2026. Pantos was driving their spouse’s car to work in Portland when they passed several ICE agents on the side of the road. The timing mattered. The complaint describes it as “the middle of Trump’s ‘Operation Catch of the Day’ immigration surge in Maine.” Pantos pulled over to observe the agents’ operations.

According to the complaint, Pantos took photos of the agents and saw an ICE agent photograph another observer’s license plate. After about five minutes, with no one being detained, Pantos continued on to work.

Later that afternoon, Williams received a phone call from an undisclosed number. The person on the line identified himself as being with DHS. Williams says in the complaint. and asked if anyone other than Williams ever drove her car. When Williams confirmed her spouse sometimes used the vehicle. the caller asked whether she was aware that Pantos had “stopped at an incident” that morning and allegedly warned that Pantos “might get added to a domestic terrorism watchlist” as a consequence.

Williams and Pantos say the call rattled them. They feared the incident could affect their status as foster parents. “Pantos ‘chose not to do any observing of ICE’ thereafter,” the complaint states.

Nearly two months later, they describe another encounter that lawyers argue points back to that January warning. On March 16, Pantos and Williams were driving back from their anniversary celebration in Canada in Pantos’ car. After they handed over their passports at a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint, an agent instructed them to pull aside. Pantos. according to the complaint. said: “That. I think. is when we realized something was wrong. ” when phones. passports. and car keys were taken.

After a few minutes. the agent asked Williams for her car registration. even though the couple had been driving Pantos’ car. The complaint states that the agent asked several questions about Williams’ car before finally letting them go. Neither of them “had indicated prior to the agent’s questions that they owned another vehicle. ” and the complaint adds: “There is no conceivable reason to ask about [Carlyn Williams’s] car other than the incident involving Plaintiff Pantos on January 20. 2026.”.

It is the first known case described in the filings where a DHS official allegedly made a threat about a domestic terrorism watchlist over the phone, but lawyers say the pattern is broader.

A federal lawsuit filed by Protect Democracy on behalf of Maine residents centers on statements made by federal agents—including some caught on camera—warning people they would be added to a domestic terrorist database simply for observing immigration operations. DHS has maintained that such a database doesn’t exist. Still. the lawsuit and parallel cases claim that threats have had a chilling effect on plaintiffs’ freedom of expression. particularly when the consequences are tied to activities protected by the First Amendment.

One key uncertainty for plaintiffs is what DHS did with the information allegedly collected from observers. Lawyers say nobody knows what the agency has done with biometric and license plate information collected from people who documented ICE activity.

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sued DHS last week as well, seeking records about the alleged database under the Freedom of Information Act.

For plaintiffs, the lawsuits are not just about words—these are about what happens after the cameras stop rolling and the phone call ends. Williams and Pantos were added as plaintiffs to the Maine lawsuit last month, after similar legal challenges were already building in other parts of the country.

A Minnesota class action lawsuit against DHS is described through dozens of declarations in court filings. with plaintiffs saying federal agents showed up outside their homes. Lawyers in that case argue it shows agents “are obtaining these home addresses by running their license plates through a law enforcement database.” In that litigation. some ICE observers also report having their Global Entry status—an expedited travel program under CBP—revoked without explanation after encounters with federal agents.

In Illinois. an additional lawsuit filed against DHS earlier in May targets a different kind of information collection: the federal government’s handling of DNA samples. The suit challenges the collection and storage of DNA samples from four people arrested at anti-ICE protests in Illinois. Two plaintiffs were never charged; the other plaintiffs saw their minor charges dropped quickly. Still, the government is holding onto the genetic data indefinitely.

That, plaintiffs say, is part of why they fear retaliation will outlast any courtroom outcome. In the complaint, one plaintiff worries her DNA will be used “to place her on a ‘domestic terrorist watchlist’ and track her movements” and “keep punishing her long after the fact.”

DHS, for its part, denies the premise at the center of each case. “There is NO database of ‘domestic terrorists’ run by DHS,” a DHS spokesperson wrote in a statement to Mother Jones. The spokesperson said DHS “does of course monitor and investigate and refer all threats. assaults and obstruction of our officers to the appropriate law enforcement.” The statement adds that obstructing and assaulting law enforcement is a felony and a federal crime. DHS also said it would not comment on specific law enforcement capabilities and said that all the agency’s methods followed the US constitution. The White House and CBP did not respond to requests for comment.

Even as DHS denies building any “domestic terrorists” database. the administration’s counterterrorism framing is part of the backdrop for plaintiffs and their lawyers. The reporting describes that the administration has made “Left-Wing Extremists” a counterterrorism priority. Earlier this month. Trump unveiled a counterterrorism strategy that includes the “neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American. radically pro-transgender. and anarchist”—a category that plaintiffs say is largely undefined and could feasibly encompass anti-ICE activists.

For Pantos, the consequences have landed hard in a family trying to manage fear while living under scrutiny. “I had no idea the impact of what I had done on that day,” Pantos said. “I feel terrible that I put our foster child and my spouse in danger, people that I love so much.”

DHS lawsuit domestic terrorism watchlist ICE observers Protect Democracy Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression FOIA Maine Global Entry revocation DNA samples anti-ICE protests Operation Catch of the Day