ICE observer lost TSA travel privileges after encounter with Border Patrol agent, lawsuit claims

Nicole Cleland, a volunteer observer of federal immigration forces in Minnesota, claims she had her PreCheck and Global Entry revoked

A Minnesota woman has alleged she lost her membership to the TSA’s PreCheck and Global Entry trusted traveler programs three days after being challenged by an immigration agent.

Nicole Cleland, who volunteers with a community group that monitors ICE and Border Patrol officials in their neighborhood, made the claim in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security.

Cleland says on the morning of January 10 – just three days after the fatal shooting of activist Renee Good in Minneapolis – she was in her car when she observed a white Dodge Ram being driven by federal officials.

The 56-year-old Target director says she and a fellow observer followed the Dodge in their own vehicle because they were concerned “about a local apartment building being raided”.

A Border Patrol agent questions a driver in Minneapolis as part of Operation Metro Surge (file photo) (Getty)

“An agent exited the vehicle and approached my vehicle,” Cleland wrote. “I remained in my vehicle. The agent addressed me by my name and informed me that they had ‘facial recognition’ and that his body cam was recording.

“The agent stated that he worked for Border Patrol. He wore full camouflage fatigues. The agent stated that I was impeding their work. He indicated he was giving me a verbal warning and if I was found to be impeding again, I would be arrested.”

Cleland, of Richfield, says she accepted the warning and drove away, only to then receive the email regarding her travel privileges later that week.

“The notification did provide some reasons that my status may have changed and the only one that makes sense was: ‘The applicant has been found in violation of any customs, immigration, or agriculture regulations, procedures, or laws in any country,’” she said in the declaration.

“I was not detained, I was not arrested, so difficult to understand how I was ‘found in violation.’”

Federal agents on the streets of Minnesota as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration (file photo) (AP)

Given that the notification came so soon after her encounter with the Border Patrol official, Cleland said she assumed it “was the result of me following and observing the agents” and was therefore intended as an act of “intimidation and retaliation.”

She concluded by expressing fears that she “may be detained or arrested again in the future” and that “further actions that could be taken against me or my family”.

“The interaction with the agents on January 10 made me feel angry and intimidated,” Cleland wrote. “I have been through Legal Observer Training and know my rights. I believe that I did not do anything that warranted being stopped in the way that I was.”

Asked whether Cleland had lost her travel privileges as a direct consequence of the incident, a DHS spokesperson told The Independent: “There has been no new directive from Customs and Border Protection on Global Entry revocations.

“Body worn cameras are utilized to document encounters and are not equipped with CBP’s facial comparison technology.”

According to The New York Times, federal agents have been regularly spotted using an app on their cellphones known as Mobile Fortify during operations carried out as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown. The app can scan faces and capture contactless fingerprints to quickly identify individuals.

“Ms Cleland was one of at least seven American citizens told by ICE agents this month that they were being recorded with facial recognition technology in and around Minneapolis,” the Times wrote in its own account of her experience, citing verified social media videos.