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Observer threatened with ICE watchlist testifies in lawsuit over surveillance of protesters

Jan 21, 2026·Location: Portland, ME

Observer threatened with ICE watchlist testifies in lawsuit over surveillance of protesters
Photo via NPR

Elinor Hilton, a 23-year-old Portland resident, was recording federal agents during a Department of Homeland Security operation called "Catch of the Day" at a Home Depot when agents told her she was being placed on a watchlist and threatened to come to her house that night. The incident occurred two weeks after Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, and Hilton has said she has since struggled to sleep and remains fearful of idling cars near her home. Hilton and fellow observer Colleen Fagan, who said agents told her she was being placed in "a nice little database," appeared in court as plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit Hilton v. Noem et al., in which attorneys from Protect Democracy and the law firms Dunn Isaacson Rhee and Drummond Woodsum argue that the surveillance violated observers' First Amendment rights.

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