Trending claims

ACLU attorney Scarlet Kim stated that Task Force agents should neither stake out clients' homes for recording them nor abuse the Halo Law to interfere with their First Amendment right to record.

Over the past two years, videos have shown federal immigration agents arresting or threatening people for filming them in locations from Oregon to the Florida Keys.

ACLU attorney Scarlet Kim described the Task Force's actions against Mr. Demster and other clients as an 'unrelenting campaign of harassment' and a 'gross violation of their constitutional rights'.

Fact: In legal declarations, Hunter Demster estimated that task force members used the "Halo Law" 40 to 50 times to threaten him with arrest.

Fact: Hunter Demster was released at the scene of his arrest.

Fact: Florida, Louisiana, Indiana, and Arizona have passed "buffer zone" laws similar to Tennessee's in recent years.

Fact: A federal judge struck down Arizona's "buffer zone" law in 2023, ruling it unconstitutionally broad.

Fact: Hunter Demster's legal declaration states that task force agents went to his home on August 30 and September 3 to take pictures and video of him.

Fact: A lawsuit filed by the ACLU and others seeks a preliminary injunction to stop task force officers from intimidating, assaulting, or arresting people for recording them.

Fact: Hunter Demster and eight other residents allege in legal declarations that they were violently arrested, surveilled, and jailed for filming the Memphis Safe Task Force.

Fact: After refusing to move, Hunter Demster was pinned to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested by three agents.

Fact: The Memphis Safe Task Force, comprising local, state, and federal agencies, has been in Memphis since September 2025 under orders from President Donald Trump and Governor Bill Lee.

Fact: Tennessee's "Halo Law" prohibits bystanders from approaching within 25 feet of police and first responders if they have been ordered to retreat.

Fact: While Hunter Demster was under arrest, Lucas Cameron-Vaughn of the ACLU of Tennessee was ordered to back up 25 feet and threatened with arrest.

Fact: The ACLU released video and a declaration as supplemental material in a lawsuit filed in mid-May against the Memphis Safe Task Force.

Statement: ACLU says videos of Hunter Demster's August 26 arrest show a continuing campaign of harassment by the Memphis Safe Task Force.

The Congressional Budget Office's legislative scores do not show the debt-service costs incurred from borrowing.

Current Congressional Budget Office scoring rules allow a bill to be scored as balanced even if it offsets spending in an early year with revenue in a much later year.

Parker Sheppard stated that as of September 2026, U.S. deficits are running at 6 percent of GDP.

Approximately 70 percent of the U.S. federal budget consists of mandatory spending.