A Minnesota man who monitored US immigration raids has joined a federal lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of intimidating and surveilling people who record Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
Michael Khalili, from Minneapolis, is suing alongside the non-profit Common Cause, which alleges that the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the FBI and other agencies violated observers’ First Amendment and privacy rights.
The 94-page complaint, filed in Washington DC on Thursday, seeks a nationwide order preventing federal agencies from threatening, tracking or retaliating against people who observe immigration enforcement in public places.
Khalili, 47, began following ICE vehicles around the Twin Cities after the administration sent large numbers of federal officers to Minnesota last winter. He said he stayed within the law and used his constitutional right to document government activity.
But he described repeated confrontations with officers who photographed him and his vehicle and told him to stop. One day after an encounter in March, his Global Entry membership was revoked. It was later restored after a journalist asked US authorities about the decision.
In May, Khalili said, a state trooper threatened to charge him with harassment for following ICE vehicles. The following month, he learned that one of 15 Minnesota activists indicted over an alleged conspiracy to impede or injure an officer faced a charge relating to following immigration vehicles across state lines.
Concerned that federal agents could come to their home and arrest him in front of their children, Khalili agreed to stop observing ICE operations.
He said he had nevertheless decided to become a plaintiff because video footage filmed by observers had helped challenge official claims after the fatal shooting of Minneapolis observer Alex Pretti in January.
“That’s the only reason why the government’s lies fell apart,” Khalili said. “And that’s why it’s critical that people are out there.”
ICE observers allege intimidation and surveillance
The lawsuit describes encounters involving seven Common Cause members in Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey. The organisation alleges that people who attempted to monitor immigration enforcement were photographed, followed, reported to police, pepper-sprayed or threatened with visits to their homes.
In one case, the complaint alleges, federal officers visited the Minnesota home of a Common Cause member. In another, ICE officers allegedly asked local police to exclude an observer from a public car park outside an immigration facility in Maryland and said they had identified the person through facial-recognition technology.
The complaint also draws on declarations from observers in Illinois, Maine and Tennessee. Campaign Legal Center, which is helping to litigate the case, says the incidents point to a wider government policy rather than isolated misconduct.
Danielle Lang, the organisation’s vice-president for voting rights and the rule of law, said the alleged actions represented “a top-down policy of retaliation” that required legal intervention.
Common Cause said the ability of citizens to observe and criticise government agencies was essential to democratic accountability. Its vice-president for litigation, Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, said criminalising peaceful observation risked discouraging participation in public life.
The complaint cites national security directives and Justice Department guidance issued during Donald Trump’s presidency. It alleges that the administration has blurred the distinction between people peacefully recording federal officers and individuals involved in violence or domestic terrorism.
It also claims that safeguards limiting the use of facial-recognition systems and licence-plate readers against peaceful observers were removed, while the Department of Homeland Security dismantled its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
The federal government is accused of gathering personal information, threatening arrest or force, pursuing criminal charges and imposing civil penalties. The lawsuit also alleges that officials have revoked Global Entry or TSA PreCheck status in retaliation for observation activity.
Khalili said records obtained from Minnesota’s motor vehicle authorities showed that law enforcement had queried his licence plate, driving licence or personal details 55 times since March 2026. He said there had been only two such searches before he began monitoring ICE.
US immigration authorities also referred him for additional questioning when he returned from a family holiday in Ireland, prompting him to suspect that he had been flagged by the federal government.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.
Customs and Border Protection has previously denied that Global Entry or other trusted-traveller memberships are revoked because someone exercises First Amendment rights, saying status can be withdrawn for reasons including outstanding charges, warrants or a failure to meet low-risk traveller requirements.
Khalili said he hoped the case would lead to safeguards allowing people to observe federal enforcement without fear of reprisals.
