University groups are challenging the Trump administration's efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists and in a federal lawsuit accused the Department of Homeland Security of sharing how it obtained the names of some of the students targeted for deportation.

On the third day of proceedings in Boston, Peter Hatch, a senior DHS investigations official, claimed that most of the names of student protesters reported to the agency for analysis came from Canary Mission.

Civil rights advocates say Canary Mission is therefore divulging sensitive information to critics of Israel and providing a potential road map for immigration agents.

Its database contains mini-profiles of thousands of students and faculty, and has expanded to include professionals such as doctors and nurses. People included in the database have been harassed, disciplined, and even fired. Israeli intelligence has used Canary Mission profiles as justification for detaining listed visitors at the border.

In the U.S. case, the Anonymous group, as it calls itself, has published a detailed database of students, faculty, and others it says have shared anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views.

“Did many of the names of student protesters that were provided to the Intelligence Office for analysis reports come from the Canary Mission website?” the judge asked.

“It is true that many, or even most, of the names came from that website,” Hatch, deputy director of Homeland Security Investigations’ intelligence office, said in testimony. “But we were receiving names and leads from many different sources.”

Canary Mission said in an email that it has not been working with DHS and noted that its database is public.

“We have had no contact with this administration or the previous one,” the group said.

The plaintiffs, the Harvard faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the Middle East Studies Association, and three other academic groups, allege that the deportations violated the First Amendment.

U.S. District Judge William Young questioned Hatch about the lists of students provided to the agency. Hatch said a team of experts consisting of analysts, an agent, and a unit chief had been formed to evaluate student protesters who might pose a threat to national security, support terrorist organizations, or engage in illegal activity during the protests.

He also said that some staff had been transferred from the counterterrorism intelligence unit to focus on the efforts. The group was directed to specifically review the Canary Mission database, he added. Hatch said it was unclear how the agency was notified of the website's existence. “I can say that Canary Mission is not part of the U.S. government. It's not information we consider reliable, and we don't collaborate with those who create the website,” he said. “I don't know who creates it. We have no relationship with its creators.”