The FBI has opened preliminary investigations targeting anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters in Southern California, a former FBI intelligence official claimed 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 requests from President Donald Trump and other administration officials, according to disclosures by Jill Fields, a former surveillance intelligence analyst at the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
CNN reviewed the complaint, which was filed by attorneys representing Fields with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A Justice Department spokesperson told CNN that the DOJ would continue to “vigorously defend 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 obstruct federal law enforcement and assaults on federal agents 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 work.”
A White House statement also suggests the investigation should focus on acts of violence, which it says are not protected by the First Amendment.
“These allegations are FALSE. The First Amendment does not protect violent rioting, obstruction of law enforcement, and assault on law enforcement,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement. “Assaulting and obstructing law enforcement is a crime. This administration has been clear: anyone who attacks or obstructs law enforcement will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
CNN has also reached out to the FBI for comment.
In at least one case, the FBI opened preliminary investigations into protesters after the president demanded an investigation into people he saw in a TikTok video showing protesters against ICE and Customs and Border Protection in Alhambra, California. Protesters used bullhorns to warn neighbors of the presence of immigration enforcement agents, according to Fields’ disclosure.
Following the February 2025 Alhambra protest, an analyst who worked under Fields “informed her that the team had been ordered to conduct due diligence checks on the two to four anti-ICE and CBP protesters in the video, accused of obstructing an immigration-related arrest, even though FBI policy prohibits initiating investigations based solely on First Amendment-protected activities and the team had not further evidence of a crime,” attorneys representing Fields said in a letter to senators.
The investigations came after FBI Director Kash Patel told senior FBI leaders that the president “was angry about the incident and wanted these protesters investigated and arrested,” the letter said.
In a letter to Patel and Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing the whistleblower’s complaint, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla questioned the Justice Department about the number of investigations currently underway into protesters and whether Trump had directed other similar investigations.
Fields’ whistleblower complaint revealed two separate incidents in which she said White House officials asked the FBI to investigate and arrest anti-ICE protesters.
A separate incident a few weeks earlier sparked similar attention to free speech, according to Fields, when then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove asked the FBI to investigate a group of anti-ICE protesters outside a federal building in California.
In both cases, Fields noted that First Amendment protections prohibited such investigations and potential charges unless other actions beyond speech had taken place.
When she raised the issue with a superior, Fields says she was told it had to happen.
The former analyst said she was stripped of her team and lost the support of FBI leadership in her Los Angeles office, prompting her to ultimately resign from the bureau.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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