During a Tuesday interview on WTTW-TV’s Chicago Tonight, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot outlined a proposal to establish a centralized archive containing detailed personal information on every Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent operating in the U.S. She told host Paris Schutz she wants to know the agents’ “height, weight, hair color, they wear their vests in a particular way … even the masks that they wear, the shoes that they wear, the cars that they’re driving.”
Lightfoot continued:
We have a right to compile that information and put together a profile of each of these agents that’s alleged to have committed a crime. This is not about doxxing them or putting them in danger.It’s [this information] out there, but it’s in different places, and that makes it difficult to aggregate the information. We want to create a portal where what’s happening in real time can be centralized and then put out for the public to view.
Number two, we certainly want to unmask the ICE agents and CBP agents who are committing crimes in our city. Not normal immigration activity — but when we see homicide, attempted homicide, or excessive force being routinely used …
In the video below from Thursday night, Fox News’ Jesse Watters played a clip from Lightfoot’s interview and asked Attorney General Pam Bondi if this plan was legal. Bondi said no, adding that Lightfoot would be receiving a notification from the Justice Department the next day, instructing her to preserve all documents relating to her actions.
On Tuesday, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) proudly announced that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee will be launching a “master ICE tracker” on their website to monitor the activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents throughout the country.
With Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass at his side, Garcia said, “The Oversight Committee will be launching on their website a master ICE tracker where we can. We’re going to be essentially tracking every single instance that we can verify that the community will send, be able to send us information. It’ll all be available in one central place.”
As nuts as this sounds, Lightfoot and members of the House Oversight Committee are among a growing number of Democrats pursuing similar efforts. Over the past week alone, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and even a student group at Loyola University Chicago have all announced plans to develop apps or websites designed to track the locations and movements of ICE agents across the country.
Except for Lightfoot, whose oath expired when she left office, and the students, the rest of these individuals have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Yet they are actively trying to dox federal agents who are tasked with enforcing U.S. immigration law and implementing the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
They are crossing a very dangerous line. First, considering that attacks against ICE agents have surged by 1,000% since President Trump took office, these initiatives are likely to get federal agents killed.
Just last month, a sniper targeting federal law enforcement officers opened fire at the ICE facility in Dallas, Texas. Although he was aiming for ICE agents, he wound up killing two detainees before turning his gun on himself. Investigators recovered an unfired bullet inscribed with the words “ANTI-ICE” at the scene.
Mexican cartels have placed bounties on the heads of ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the amounts range from “$2,000 for gathering intelligence or doxxing agents” to “$50,000 for the assassination of high-ranking officials.”
Second, although I’m not a lawyer, does one really need a law degree to recognize that these plans likely violate 18 U.S. Code § 372 (Conspiracy to impede or injure an officer)?
If two or more persons in any State, Territory, Possession, or District conspire to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States, or from discharging any duties thereof, or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave the place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or to injure him in his person or property on account of his lawful discharge of the duties of his office, or while engaged in the lawful discharge thereof, or to injure his property so as to molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede him in the discharge of his official duties, each of such persons shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six years, or both.
It’s worth noting that more than three million illegal immigrants were deported during the Obama administration. While President Obama was dubbed the “deporter-in-chief” by his critics, I don’t recall seeing anything remotely resembling the level of resistance we’re witnessing today.
If the Biden administration had not allowed millions of unvetted illegal immigrants to pour into the U.S., we wouldn’t be facing today’s sweeping deportations. And given the unprecedented level of resistance from sanctuary state and city officials, there is no easier, softer way to do this.
As the Issues & Insights editorial board noted in a recent op-ed, “Deportation is a dirty business. It always has been. Always will be.”
But if Democrats go forward with their proposed ICE tracking apps and websites, sooner or later, agents are going to get killed.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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