How to Safely Film ICE

Advice from a press freedom expert.

Journalism is too opaque and misunderstood. Chills gives a behind-the-scenes look at how dangerous investigative journalism gets made.

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A Border Patrol Tactical Unit agent pepper sprays a protester at the scene where Renee Good was shot and killed by a federal agent earlier that day, Jan. 7, in Minneapolis. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Are you going to ICE protests? Whether you are a journalist or not, you may be recording what you’re witnessing. My former Committee to Protect Journalists colleague Frank Smyth, founder and CEO of GJS (Global Journalist Security) and an award-winning investigative journalist, has some important advice on how to protect yourselves and others around you both physically and legally as you do so.

The situation is at a tipping point, and smartphones are critical as tools in the fight against violence and creeping authoritarianism. So, whether you are a journalist or not, your efforts are critical to democracy right now.

“We have long followed police interactions with the press, including with citizen journalists,” Smyth said. “What we have witnessed so far in 2026, however, is unlike anything we have ever seen in our own nation.”

Hear Smyth’s advice on filming ICE interactions in the video below, and: “Pace yourselves,” he said. “This is going to be a long haul.”

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