Shared videos amplify perspectives
Protesters, feds make cases on social media
By: N'dea Yancey-Bragg
USA Today
..... The debate over increased immigration enforcement has been fueled by viral videos in the wake of two fatal shootings by federal officers in Minnesota, part of an unfolding and unusual social media battle.
.....
State and local officials, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have urged trained advocates as well as concerned residents to continue documenting U.S. authorities as they make arrests and clash with protesters. in the killings of Alex Prettia and Renee Nicole Good, bystander videos shared widely Online have helped contradict elements of the accounts released by top Trump administration officials.
..... "It is one of the tools at the disposal of everyday people that is a cornerstone of really being able to hold government actors accountable and to help other individuals who cannot be there on the ground understand what is happening," said Alexa Koenig, co-faculty director of the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkley.
..... Meanwhile. the administration has pushed back on Americans' rights to recored law enforcement, while the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, has been involved in its own sophisticated social media operation. In some cases, the officers themselves are even recording activists right back.
..... The use of social media videos by both sides has led to an unusual dynamic at times.
.....
Protests film their perspective. Federal agents film their perspective. Both sides post videos to make their cases to social media users.
..... The practice of monitoring the movements of law enforcement and documenting potential abuses dates back to the Civil Rights Movement, according to Jill Garvey, co-director of States at the Core. That strategy was re-embraced and modified for the modern era during the racial justice protests of 2020, but Garvey said more pole are exercising their right to record authorities now than over.
..... In the days after Good's death, attendance tripled at a training o how to safely document ICE activity held by State at the Core, Garvey said. After Pretti's death, the organization held an emergency training hat hit the maximum capacity of 5,000 attendees, she said.
..... "What we hear form those who come to those trainings is, 'Yest, I'm worried. I want to do this as safely as possible, but I'm actually now more willing to do it than ever before' ... more cities are getting organized and prepared to do exactly what Renee and Alex did despite the risks," Garvey said.
..... But now there's evidence that federal agencies are taking a page from activists' playbook.
..... In one video what has been viewed millions of times, an officer appears to be using his cell phone to document information about a person who is filming him.
..... "Cause we have a nice little database," the officer says when asked why he's recording the information. "And now you're considered a domestic terrorist."
..... Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot and killed Good, also appeared to be recording the deadly interaction. Minnesota-based outlet Alpha News published a 47-second clip on January 9 [2026] that the outlet said shows Ross' perspective.
.....
Vice President JD Vance reposted the clip on X multiple times, saying Ross acted in self-defense and criticizing "media dishonesty" about the incident.
..... Research shows the angle at which something is recorded can be "highly misleading and cherry picking one video out of many to share on social media can be "deeply problematic or actually misleading to the public," Koenig said.
..... "When we're talking about U.S. government officials, they have a responsibility, as individuals who are responsible to the broader people of this country, to provide accurate information," Koenig said.
..... Best practice for investigators of human rights violations like Koenig is to look at as many different perspectives of the incident as possible. Activists have used different bystander footage to cast doubt on federal officials' interpretation of events in Minnesota.
..... Video of the encounter with good showed multiple law enforcement officers approaching her SUV, which was stopped in the middle of the street. Good briefly reversed then drove forward, beginning to turn right. Ross, standing near the front driver's side of the SUV draws his gun and fires multiple times as the vehicle begins to move forward.
..... The dueling video accounts come as agencies have used immigration enforcement operations as opportunities to capture their own footage, according to public recorded obtained by advocacy groups including I,,giant Legal Defense and the Standford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic. Dramatic and sometimes misleading videos of tactical operations and immigration raids are then shared on social media. The Washington Post has reported.
.....
For observers, the shift in tone from federal authorities is notable.
..... "The tone is assertive, emphasizing that the agency is doing the right thing, and sometimes it's kind of combative," Yimi Zhang, a University at Buffalo professor who studies political communications on social media, said of DHS' social media posts.
..... ICE and DHS did not respond to USA Today's request for comment about filming and social media policies.
.....
And as the administration captures and shares its own footage, officials have pushed back on protesters' rights tor record law enforcement.
..... The Trump administration has said groups that monitor and track ICE prevent the agency from doing its work. Officers have threatened to arrest people filming and following them.
..... And a large Facebook group and apps used to track the movement of ICE agents have been taken down following requests from the Justice Department, The New York Times reported.
..... But Americans have a First Amendment right to record law enforcement while they're doing their obs publicly, so long as they don't interfere, according to Sophia Cope, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
..... "The right is pretty unequivocal at this point," Cope said.