This Is Why They Mask: Anti-ICE Task Force Is Reportedly Using Military-Grade Surveillance Methods

One of the most vocal rebukes you’ll hear from the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement critics is that law enforcement shouldn’t be wearing masks.

An ominous report from Fox News, however, may spell out exactly why ICE operates more clandestinely than your rank-and-file law enforcement.

According to the outlet, anti-ICE groups have been using military-style surveillance techniques to both impede and keep an eye on immigration enforcement officials.

Only days after FBI Director Kash Patel announced an investigation into anti-ICE activists using encrypted messaging to interfere with the law enforcement agency, Jill Garvey — the co-founder of a group called “States at the Core” — appeared on a Zoom webinar to instruct new recruits she described as “rapid responders.”

The training centered on a method known as SALUTE, a military-style intelligence checklist that stands for Size, Activity, Location, Uniform, Time, and Equipment. In practice, it’s a structured way to catalog and report details about a target’s movements and behavior.

Garvey pitched the program as a form of organized surveillance aimed at federal agents, whom she had recently called “mercenaries” in a separate interview.

During the session, she encouraged participants to see themselves as part of a coordinated effort, framing the work in overtly operational terms rather than as casual observation.

“We are all ICE Watch,” Garvey proclaimed, adding that her organization — funded by the Hopewell Fund, a Democrat-aligned dark-money group — has trained roughly 40,000 people over the past year.

The scale of that claim, paired with the tactics being taught, has only intensified scrutiny from federal authorities already wary of how these networks are operating.

EXCLUSIVE: Inside the shadow network tracking federal agents. 🧵

A Fox News Digital investigation has uncovered a nationwide web of more than 200 anti-ICE organizations using military-grade intelligence tactics to track law enforcement.

From encrypted Signal chats to… pic.twitter.com/exi2HSngFn

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 5, 2026

Fox News investigated other, similar groups, and eventually concluded that these groups belong to a sprawling national network of more than 200 anti-ICE outfits working to assemble a civilian intelligence and “rapid response” apparatus — one that recruits, trains, and deploys volunteers as on-the-ground spotters, uses the SALUTE framework to log information on federal agents they label as the “enemy,” and in doing so, raises serious concerns about potential national security risks.

The outlet added, “In intelligence circles, they would be called ‘collectors’ in the craft of ‘human intelligence, or ‘HUMINT.’”

Fox News reported that these nationwide efforts funnel information on the movements of law enforcement and immigration officials into at least 13 advanced databases.

Those systems reportedly hold highly sensitive material, ranging from license plate numbers and time-stamped location data to details about uniforms, photographs, and observed behavior.

In at least one concerning instance, the stored records also include the names, addresses, and phone numbers of federal officials.

The broader operation is said to run through a network of no fewer than 18 regional hubs spread across the country, concentrated largely in Democratic-led states and major cities.

Those centers handle the flow of information, oversee verification, and coordinate reporting, effectively serving as the clearinghouses for the entire system.

“This is mind-blowing,” retired U.S. Army Green Beret Eric Schwalm told Fox News. “We have an entire nation of collectors against our country’s law enforcement.

“It’s extremely dangerous.”

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.