The shadowy network of agitators unmasking ICE agents... and its chilling message to America
Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who fatally shot protester Renée Good in Minneapolis earlier this month, lied to his neighbors about what he does for a living, claiming he works as a botanist.
Another ICE officer in Michigan spent years leading parents of his son's hockey teammates to believe he's an insurance salesman.
An agent in California posed as a computer programmer, even to his own relatives, the Daily Mail has learned.
Being in the closet is nothing new for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, many of whom have long hidden their work identities. What is new is that hundreds of agents can no longer live under the radar now that activists in their communities are outing them.
A grassroots effort known as ICE List emerged online earlier this month, publicly naming hundreds of federal immigration staffers and, in many cases, revealing their contact information, resumé data, license plate numbers, makes and models of their cars and photos of their faces.
The nationwide doxing project – perhaps the biggest of its kind – has an accompanying Wiki page that is constantly being updated for use by journalists, researchers, advocates and the general public.
The movement was organized by Dominick Skinner, an Irishman living in the Netherlands who, when reached by email Monday, refused to comment on the project.
ICE agents have been operating in masks or face coverings and have been refusing to identify themselves during enforcement actions in US cities
Alex Pretti, 37, was shot dead by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Saturday during a targeted immigration enforcement operation, just weeks after Renee Good was fatally shot during another demonstration
Skinner is affiliated with Crust News, which describes itself as 'a platform for people tired of being lied to, by media, by politicians, by those who claim neutrality while standing beside oppression.'
'We name names. We cite sources. We don't look away.'
The ICE List comes as an act of protest against agent Ross's fatal shooting of Good, a mother of three, in Minneapolis on January 7, and as a means of expressing defiance against ICE's expanding presence in that city, Minnesota, and nationally.
And now, the backlash has only intensified following another ICE-related fatal shooting over the weekend, when 37-year-old Alex Pretti was killed during a confrontation with agents on an icy Midwestern roadway.
The Department of Homeland Security claimed the agent 'fired defensive shots' after Pretti approached them with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, branding him a 'domestic terrorist'.
But various witness accounts and video have since cast doubt on the government's claims that he posed an immediate threat to the officers.
The list, it is claimed, has become a practical way to expose agents allegedly roaming the streets in face masks, unwilling to identify themselves as they go door-to-door in some neighborhoods and even hauling away even US citizens.
The list has inspired a host of social media efforts design to inform activists about ICE operations in their areas.
A new, grassroots, 'ICE List' online names hundreds of federal immigration officials and includes personal details, photographs, and employment histories
One black officer named Smith received online backlash after his name appeared on the list
Some posts sound friendly enough.
'Everyone say hi to Bryan,' says one post on Threads which gives the officer's full name, which the Daily Mail will not repeat. 'Bryan is a National Deployment Officer for ICE in NYC.'
Others offer more details.
'Say hello to Brenden,' a post on Reddit says, adding his hometown. It added that he is 'an ICE agent who was seen earlier this week brutalizing a pregnant woman in Minneapolis, MN'.
Some are downright threatening.
'May we never allow him a peaceful day for the remainder of his life,' reads a post about the same agent, on Instagram.
Some agents in racial or religious minorities are being slammed by members of their own communities.
One black officer named Smith received online backlash after his name appeared on the list.
'Wow, brown arresting brown. Where is the loyalty to your own kind? Need the money that bad?' a Threads user posted.
Activists claim exposing agents' identities is a form of accountability following a string of deadly encounters involving ICE
A protester in Minneapolis holds up a placard reading 'it was murder' in reference to Alex Pretti's death by law enforcement on Saturday
An apparent ICE agent identified as Jack in Kansas drew particularly harsh comments, largely about what Crust News described as his 'badly covered nazi tattoo.'
'Major "I peaked in middle school" energy,' one Reddit follower observed.
'If fetal alcohol syndrome needed a poster child,' posted a second.
A photo of one man named on the list as a special ICE agent in Durango, Colorado, prompted a poster not to mince words about their feelings for his line of work.
'Colorado hates you,' they wrote.
Not all posts are negative.
A Threads user identified as Mrs Cone, gave that officer an online attaboy, writing: 'Thank you so much for all of your hard work! Prayers for you and your family.'
None of the four officers mentioned responded to our requests for comment about being doxed.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has said publicizing agents' identities puts their lives and the lives of their families at serious risk.
Several people's names appear mistakenly on the ICE List. They include FBI agents, local sheriffs department officials and workers for companies that contract with ICE.
'It is dangerous. It's unacceptable,' said Amsalu Kassau, a security worker at GEO, the private company that operates an ICE immigration facility in Aurora, Colorado.
'We all know that our immigration system is broken. If people aren't happy with it, they should call their member of Congress, not harass people who are just trying to do our jobs and put out information that puts our lives in danger,' added Kassau, a former Aurora councilmember who lost her re-election bid in November as part of a backlash against immigration enforcement and anti-immigrant sentiment in that city.
Meanwhile, in nearby Denver, a group of women in their 50s and 60s delayed their reading of Arundhati Roy's memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, to research local agents on ICE List and pass the information to activists to post on social media.
The group even invited a private investigator to its monthly meeting last week to coach them on research techniques.
The identity of the ICE agent involved in Renee Good's death was initially withheld but was later revealed to be Jonathan Ross
Near-daily television news video showing agents roughing up protestors rattled national confidence in the agency with one poll showing 46% of people want to abolish the agency entirely
'We're trying to dig up everything we can on these goons. It makes us feel like we're doing something, somehow, to avenge (what happened to) Renée,' one book club member said, referring to Good's killing.
Many privacy experts, local police officials and FBI agents have been advising ICE agents nationwide to wipe as much of their private information as possible from the internet and to otherwise watch their backs in this time of widespread discontent with immigration enforcement.
'There's a fear, a legitimate one, that someone who is mentally unstable could see these names and resort to violence,' said Robert Siciliano, a security analyst and expert on privacy and online harassment.
That said, Siciliano notes that he has limited empathy for government officials — especially law enforcement officers — bellyaching about their identities being made public.
'If that's your chosen profession, why hide it?' he said. 'You reap what you sow.'
