Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Edward J. Markey (D-Calif.) (for Massachusetts) warned in a press release Thursday about the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) recent use of Predator drones and aerial surveillance against peaceful protesters during ICE raids in Los Angeles.

This surveillance constitutes a clear threat to the protesters' privacy and their constitutional rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, the senators denounced.

In their letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the senators compared DHS aerial surveillance to that of authoritarian regimes that police dissent and warned of the risks of using this technology to target minority communities. They noted that DHS did not justify its use of the drones or detail what information was collected or how it was used.

On June 8, during protests in Los Angeles, DHS deployed Predator drones with high-resolution cameras capable of identifying individuals in a crowd to fly over protests against ICE raids in Paramount and Los Angeles.

The senators sharply criticized DHS's use of the footage to create a dramatic video posted on June 10 on X with the following text: WATCH: DHS drone footage of LA rioters. This is not calm. This is not peace. California politicians must deter their rioting mob. Even if the technology were perfectly accurate, this form of surveillance could have a chilling effect on constitutional rights, particularly freedom of assembly and speech. Protesters might fear that by showing up at a demonstration, DHS or other government entities would log their names into a government database, share records with law enforcement, or even subject them to retaliation. the senators wrote.

That fear isn't theoretical. Authoritarian regimes already use facial recognition to track dissidents. But even in democratic societies, these tools can disproportionately target and harm minority communities, intensifying existing biases in law enforcement and eroding trust in public institutions.

The release of these videos appears to violate the Department's own requirement limiting the disclosure of video collected on an aircraft to authorized personnel for an authorized purpose, the senators continued. Americans could easily interpret the release of this video as an implicit threat to reveal the protesters' identities, instilling fear in any member of the public who attempts to exercise their constitutionally protected rights of speech and assembly, Padilla, Schiff and Markey in the statement.

Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) also signed the letter.

The lawmakers requested DHS provide responses by August 21, 2025, to the following questions:

Senator Padilla has been a vocal critic of Trump's unprecedented militarization with the deployment of National Guard troops and active duty Marines to respond to the largely peaceful protests in Los Angeles.

Earlier this month, Padilla put on hold the appointment of Trump's nominee for deputy director of the National Guard Bureau, Lt. Gen. Thomas Carden, until the Trump administration releases all remaining U.S. military forces from their unwarranted deployment to Los Angeles.

He also recently introduced the VISIBLE Act, which requires immigration officers to display clearly visible identification during public enforcement actions.

Last month, Padilla led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in demanding that President Trump immediately withdraw all military forces from Los Angeles and cease all threats to deploy the National Guard or active duty service members to American cities.