On June 4, ICE agents conducted an enforcement operation in Danbury, Connecticut. They brought a commercial camera crew with them — a large camera and a boom microphone — filming as they arrested people across the city. In footage captured by local advocates, a person can be heard crying off camera, telling agents the person they just arrested has a heart condition. The agents get in their cars and leave. The cameraman points the camera at the crowd as they drive away.

This is not law enforcement. This is content creation.

ICE has been embedding camera crews and far-right media influencers in enforcement operations across the country, producing footage described as similar in style to the reality TV show "COPS." According to the Washington Post, ICE has used misleading footage in viral clips that muddy the reality of what actually happened during arrests. In Connecticut, advocates are now worried that footage of them — filmed without their consent — could be sent to far-right platforms that have previously doxxed state officials.

Last year, a Connecticut state representative received death threats after being named by ICE and a far-right social media account, despite having done nothing illegal. The pattern is clear: camera crews are not there to document. They are there to intimidate, to produce propaganda, and to generate content that puts immigrant communities and their advocates at risk.

Connecticut passed a law allowing residents to sue ICE agents who violate state law. Several of the Danbury agents were masked — itself a violation of Connecticut law. The state has tools. It needs to use them.

We're calling on Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut's Attorney General to take immediate action to prevent ICE from using camera crews during enforcement operations in Connecticut and to investigate whether agents violated state law during the Danbury operation.