ICE agents have reportedly doxed themselves on social media despite claims from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that other people are targeting them online.
ICE employees have apparently posted on social media, including LinkedIn, outing their roles with the agency. At the same time, Noem has threatened that sharing the agent's identities is a crime and has said it's a main reason they wear masks, according to a report this week from Wired.
Following a widely reported story last week that ICE agents would be identified under the ICE List — which was called the largest agency data breach for the department — it appears that the information gathered was actually from the ICE agents.
And "a WIRED analysis of the site found that the database relies heavily on information that apparent DHS employees have posted publicly online themselves. This comes at a time when DHS has characterized reporting on or publicizing the identity of ICE officers as 'doxing' and has threatened to prosecute perceived offenders to the fullest extent of the law," the outlet reported.
Many agents have used LinkedIn to self-identify, a source for the ICE List database.
"Of the 1,580 pages, nearly 90 percent mention LinkedIn as a source of information, though some of the links cited now appear to be broken, and not all of the links support claims made on the wiki. (Someone listed as “active” on ICE List may, for example, have a LinkedIn depicting them as a former legal advisor for ICE. On its About page, ICE List says that “errors may occur.”) Other linked profiles lack photos and don’t appear to be very active. Some of the links, however, appear to match federal immigration agents who have previously been named in official ICE press releases and court records," Wired reported.
Noem has been critical of people identifying ICE agents, including reporters. But it was federal officials who actually connected the ICE agent who shot dead Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis to Jonathan Ross, after sharing he had been involved in a previous incident that involved him getting dragged by a vehicle and telling media outlets about it, according to Wired.
"The federal government has used federal agents’ purported fear of doxing as an argument for why they should be allowed to wear masks and other facial coverings, a practice the state of Minnesota has sought to suspend in its lawsuit against Noem in her capacity as secretary of DHS," Wired reported.