Massive data breach allegedly leaks personal details of ICE, Border Patrol agents: What’s ICE List?

Sensitive personal details of approximately 4,500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol employees have allegedly been exposed following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week. The January 7 incident, in which ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Good, a mother, has ignited nationwide protests and widespread condemnation, including from within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) itself.

The alleged leak, shared with a self-styled “accountability initiative” called ICE List, is believed to be the largest breach of DHS staff data to date. The founder of ICE List said that a DHS whistleblower shared with him the personal information of close to 4,500 federal agents and employees. The exposed information reportedly includes names, work email addresses, telephone numbers, job roles, and portions of résumés, such as prior employment history. Nearly 2,000 of those affected are said to be frontline enforcement agents.

What is the ICE List?

ICE List is a volunteer-run website documenting federal immigration personnel and their participation in enforcement actions. Its founder, Dominick Skinner, told the Daily Beast, “It is a sign that people aren’t happy within the US government, clearly. The shooting [of Good] was the last straw for many people.”

According to Skinner, the data includes roughly 1,800 on-the-ground agents and 150 supervisors. Early analysis suggests that around 80% of the staff identified are still employed by DHS. The initial portion of names from the leak was scheduled to be published on Tuesday night, Skinner said.

He added that individual reports from the public have surged since Good’s killing. “I’ve had hotel staff sending post-it notes, bar staff sending DHS IDs, and loads of people saying their neighbour is an agent,” he said.

Before this latest leak, ICE List had already gathered details on around 2,000 federal immigration staff, including approximately 800 frontline agents or personnel permitted to deputise for them. The new data reportedly raises the total number of federal immigration staff in ICE List’s possession to roughly 6,500.

Plans to publish names

Skinner explained that the project intends to list “the majority” of verified names, arguing that “ICE and CBP are in clear need of reform, and I believe working for either is a bad move on a moral level.” He noted that exceptions would be considered on a case-by-case basis, particularly for roles such as childcare workers and nurses.

“The best examples of which will be those who work in childcare within the agency, and nurses. There will be more exceptions, but we will have a discussion once the team flags a position as something we need to think twice about,” Skinner said.

The ICE List database is hosted outside the United States, in the Netherlands, to avoid potential takedown actions by American authorities. The project has evolved into an “ICE List Wiki” that aims to comprehensively document incidents, agents involved, vehicles used, and the field offices that dispatched them.

Skinner, who is Irish with American relatives but now lives in the Netherlands where he hosts the database outside US jurisdiction, said the project did not initially set out to compile a large repository of agent information. He explained that it began with a simple commitment to share names sent to the site after Republican politician Kristi Noem warned Americans could face arrest for attempting to do so. “We never began with the goal of creating a large database [and] first just promised to share agent names sent to us, as Kristi Noem threatened Americans would be arrested if they attempted to do so,” he said.

DHS response

The Department of Homeland Security has emphasised that it normally shields the identities of its personnel – who “famously almost always wear masks” in operational settings – to protect them and their families from harm. The department has successfully seen similar efforts in the United States removed in the past, including an ICE tracker application called ICEBlock.

DHS has emphasised the need to protect the identities of its staff and agents. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Beast, “Publicizing their identities puts their lives and the lives of their families at serious risk.” She defended law enforcement officers, saying they “are on the frontlines arresting terrorists, gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and rapists,” and added that they already face threats due to “the malicious rhetoric of sanctuary politicians.”

Jonathan Ross, 43, has worked for ICE since 2015 and previously served in Border Patrol. Reports suggest he misrepresented his occupation to neighbours, claiming at a 2020 garage party that he was a botanist.

Skinner noted that two federal immigration staff members identified by ICE List have reached out since June to confirm they had left their positions and were removed from the database. “We would do the same for any who has quit and has not been identified at a raid,” he said.

The project, Skinner emphasised, seeks to hold DHS accountable where he believes the agency fails to do so.