MATT BURGESS LILY HAY NEWMAN MADDY VARNER ANDY GREENBERG SECURITY JAN 31, 2026 5:30 AM How to Film ICE Filming federal agents in public is legal, but avoiding a dangerous—even deadly—confrontation isn’t guaranteed. Here’s how to record ICE and CBP agents as safely as possible and have an impact. PHOTOGRAPH: GENARO MOLINA/GETTY IMAGES Get our Tracker: ICE newsletter to understand what’s happening and what’s coming next SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to our user agreement (including class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and acknowledge our privacy policy. IN JANUARY 2026, two Americans were killed in the act of watching Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Renee Nicole Good was acting as a legal observer while her wife recorded the federal immigration agents they encountered. Alex Pretti was holding a phone in his hand, filming the agents who would soon take his life. Yet as dangerous as the mere act of observation became for these victims of ICE and Border Patrol's violence, video is also what documented their murders and is now holding federal agents accountable. That's the paradox United States residents face as they decide how to resist—and record—ICE's incursion into American cities. WIRED has made this article free for all to read. Please consider subscribing to support our journalism. “Unfortunately, there is no way to film ‘safely’ right now—I think everybody may be taking a risk because of how aggressive and brazen and outright illegal ICE’s conduct has been,” says Trevor Timm, cofounder and executive director of Freedom of the Press Foundation. (Disclosure: WIRED’s global editorial director sits on Freedom of the Press Foundation’s board.) “Alex Pretti was killed in part because he was filming ICE, which is an absolute travesty. But we saw that shooting from half a dozen angles because there were other people there who were filming as well. And because they were filming, we saw the egregious lies that the Trump administration was spreading almost immediately.” This tension has existed for more than two decades around the world as widespread access to smartphones has made video documentation and livestreaming a pivotal tool for activists and other concerned people looking to expose injustice and impact political discourse. In the US, people with cameras or smartphones out are being targeted by federal agents despite the First Amendment of the US Constitution protecting the activity of recording government operators in public spaces. Trump administration officials have attempted to cloud this fact, though, as immigration enforcement operations have escalated around the country. In July, Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem called documenting federal agents “violence,” claiming: “It is doxing them. It is videotaping them where they’re at.” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin similarly told WIRED in a statement that “videoing our officers in an effort to dox them and reveal their identities that is a federal crime and a felony.” DHS has maintained this position—despite the fact that, by DHS’s own questionable definition, ICE agents are “doxing” themselves. That rhetoric represents a direct threat to anyone recording ICE agents, whether they’re legal observers, activists or reporters, says Jackie Zammuto, associate director at Witness, a nonprofit devoted to using video to fight human rights violations. “Video documentation has the power to expose abuses, to help call for accountability, and to challenge official narratives,” Zammuto says. “At the same time, we're absolutely seeing an increase of documenters being targeted—including journalists who are marked as journalists—even when they're doing it legally, even when they're respecting orders from the police. It is a massive risk, and I think that it's important for people to weigh that risk and their own comfort in taking it.” Yet Zammuto also notes there are practical tips to protect yourself in the act of recording authority figures like ICE agents. “There are ways to be safer, to consider your own security and also the security of those around you,” Zammuto says. Here are some of those tips that WIRED has assembled from speaking to those who have used the radical act of pointing video cameras at authority figures for activism, in the media, and in court. Before Filming When filming ICE or Customs and Border Protection agents, or more generally recording events at a protest, using an alternative or burner phone can help protect your privacy and that of those around you. Still, leaving no digital trace at all is difficult to achieve: Immigration officials have built vast surveillance capabilities, including buying up online advertising data, deploying surveillance drones, tapping into license plate reader networks, and accessing systems that can monitor mobile phones across entire neighborhoods. Beyond widespread surveillance, ICE or Border Patrol access to your phone could pose direct digital surveillance risks, either while you’re on the scene or at a later date if you’re detained and they take your device to extract data. If you are bringing your daily device to a protest, turn off biometrics, disable all Face ID and fingerprint unlocking systems, and instead use a password or a PIN to secure your device. Officials must have a warrant or court order to demand a PIN or passcode from you, whereas it is legally easier for them to compel you to unlock your device using a biometric. MOST POPULAR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE A New AI Math Startup Just Cracked 4 Previously Unsolved Problems BY WILL KNIGHT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Loyalty Is Dead in Silicon Valley BY LAUREN GOODE CULTURE Hollywood Is Losing Audiences to AI Fatigue BY MILES KLEE GEAR I Infiltrated Moltbook, the AI-Only Social Network Where Humans Aren’t Allowed BY REECE ROGERS In practice, though, you may feel pressured to unlock your device for agents no matter how it’s secured, so using an alternative device that doesn’t have your whole digital life on it helps minimize how much gets revealed in a worst-case scenario. While Filming When filming, you should start recording as soon as possible when you’re in the vicinity of an incident, and keep the camera rolling as long as you can. Filming horizontally rather than vertically includes more of the scene. “We think it's really important to try to capture as much of the situation as possible continuously. If you start and stop your footage, it's easier for people to say it's been manipulated or things have been cut out,” Witness’ Zammuto says. With cheap, easy-to-use video generation tools available to virtually anyone, it is straightforward to create AI videos of ICE agents and false scenes. Filming a slow 360 degree pan can show the full surroundings and make it harder for people to claim video footage isn’t real. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), for instance, recommends making video footage easier to authenticate by also filming the wider context—including nearby landmarks or street signs—as well as potentially filming a smartphone home screen, or a clock, that shows the time or date. The NYCLU recommends focusing on ICE agents themselves where possible to document their activity, rather than using the camera to follow the people impacted by agents’ actions. Keeping the lens on agents makes it more likely that you will capture footage of any visible badges, officers’ clothing, license plates on vehicles, or other potentially identifying features to further transparency and accountability. Additionally, recording for as long as possible, even after interactions with agents appear to be over, is a way of ensuring that you capture any unexpected activity that could crop up as a crowd is dispersing. Intimidation and deterrence to filming can be a reality on the scene. For example, independent journalist Ken Klippenstein shared a video showing what appears to be an ICE agent scanning a legal observer’s car. The observer asks why the agent is scrutinizing their vehicle and the agent says, “We have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist. So have fun with that.” When interacting with federal agents while filming, it is important to show clear compliance in an attempt to deescalate tension, experts say. The aim of documenting ICE is to create accountability, not to intervene in their operation. When possible, it can be helpful to capture yourself on video interacting peacefully with agents and complying with their orders. “If they're saying to step back, step back, so that they don’t say that you’re interfering,” Zammuto says. “You can say, ‘I am exercising my First Amendment right to observe and document this interaction, and I'm complying with orders,’ and it can be helpful to document yourself complying with those orders. So film yourself taking some steps back and saying ‘I'm backing up.’” MOST POPULAR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE A New AI Math Startup Just Cracked 4 Previously Unsolved Problems BY WILL KNIGHT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Loyalty Is Dead in Silicon Valley BY LAUREN GOODE CULTURE Hollywood Is Losing Audiences to AI Fatigue BY MILES KLEE GEAR I Infiltrated Moltbook, the AI-Only Social Network Where Humans Aren’t Allowed BY REECE ROGERS If you need to go further in an attempt to deescalate, experts say that you should show agents that you’ve stopped filming or do whatever it takes to protect your safety. Given the fraught climate, they do not advise recording secretly or attempting to trick agents. “You could be putting yourself more at risk by potentially lying to a federal law enforcement officer or potentially getting yourself into trouble in different ways,” Timm of the Freedom of the Press Foundation says. “I think the best defense against an ICE officer potentially seizing your camera in a public space is other people recording that action and then being able to use that footage as evidence in court when you sue them for violating your constitut