(CNN) — The FBI opened preliminary investigations targeting anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters in Southern California, a former FBI intelligence official alleged in a whistleblower complaint, adding that she believed the move violated the law and agency policy.
The investigations were opened in early 2025 in the early weeks of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown following demands from President Donald Trump and other administration officials, according to the disclosure by Jill Fields, a former supervisory intelligence analyst in the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
CNN reviewed the complaint, which was filed by lawyers representing Fields to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A Justice Department spokesperson told CNN said the DOJ will continue to “vigorously uphold the First Amendment rights of all Americans and restore the rule of law.”
“The DOJ and FBI have a responsibility to investigate any potential violations of federal law, and conspiracies to impede federal law enforcement and assaults on federal officers are against the law,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Violence is not protected by the First Amendment. Politically motivated attacks will not deter us from doing our job.”
CNN has reached out to the FBI and White House about the disclosure.
In at least one instance, the FBI began preliminary investigations of protesters after the president demanded an investigation of people he saw in a TikTok video depicting...
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