Several federal immigration agents acted inappropriately when they told Maine residents observing immigration enforcement activity in January that they would be added to a database for “domestic terrorists,” according to a lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security.

The attorney said in court on Monday that DHS does not run any such database, and a 2019 policy prohibits federal agents from “profiling, targeting or discriminating against any individual for exercising his or her First Amendment rights.”

DHS is currently fighting a federal lawsuit filed in Maine by two residents who were observing ICE enforcement activity and say federal officers threatened to place them in a database.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Tagert said in federal court on Monday that the 2019 policy is still active, and court records show that it was shared with Boston-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in an email on March 10.

“We don’t think what happened here was proper,” Tagert said of the federal officers who threatened the Maine observers.

The plaintiffs — Elinor Hilton and Colleen Fagan — have asked for a temporary restraining order barring DHS from collecting or disseminating any of their data, which the women’s lawyers say was gathered illegally and in violation of their First Amendment rights.

Attorneys for DHS argued federal policy already protects Hilton and Fagan, and that a review of federal records show neither woman was actually added to a database — although photos taken of them by ICE officers still exist.

“It’s woefully inadequate, what’s going on here,” Rush Atkinson, an attorney for one of the women, said on Monday.

ICE officials were considering on March 10 whether to discipline the officers who threatened Fagan, according to a sworn statement signed by Assistant Field Office Director Stephen Wells.

Tagert said Monday that he could not answer a reporter’s questions. A spokesperson for DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

Fagan encountered federal agents the morning of Jan. 23, 2026, according to her lawsuit. In video recorded by Fagan, a masked officer says that he plans to place her on a “nice little database,” as other officers can be seen recording observers and their cars.

Hilton interacted with agents outside the Home Depot in South Portland two days earlier. A video she recorded shows agents recording her and also announcing that she would be placed on a database.

Both Wells and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Barbero, who helped oversee the Maine operation in January, reported in court records that neither Hilton nor Fagan was added to any databases or investigated for criminal activity.

Barbero did not mention whether any discipline was being considered for agents involved in Hilton’s case. He wrote that agents at the Home Depot encounter informed him they felt they were being “encroached” upon by observers, after having been tailed earlier by a driver who “frequently ignored stoplights and other traffic laws.”

“Out of concern of not knowing who they were, the agents conducted some investigatory steps including taking photographs and videos of the individuals,” Barbero wrote, adding agents did this “in case it was later determined further investigations were required.”

Beyond their request for a restraining order, Hilton and Fagan are seeking class action status across Maine, and a judge’s declaration that any existence of a database be deemed unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock urged both sides to consider on Monday whether DHS is also implementing an “unspoken policy” that encourages officers to threaten protesters with a database, whether one exists or not.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys argued there were two different agents threatening to put observers in a database, both on separate occasions. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem previously claimed that she considered recording agents to be interfering with law enforcement, which would make it a criminal act.

Woodcock also asked whether an injunction in this case would bar agents from using body cameras when Hilton or Fagan are present. While most immigration agents aren’t currently equipped with that technology, Woodcock referenced bipartisan conversations in Congress around body cameras for ICE agents. Atkinson argued that it wouldn’t.