A site tracking ICE raids is overwhelmed with users seeking help and sharing updates

Earlier this year, my colleague Alejandra Molina wrote about People over Papers, a site that tracks crowd-sourced ICE sightings using the digital platform Padlet.

Users submit photos and videos of suspected ICE activity, along with details including the time, date, location, type of activity and descriptions of uniforms or equipment observed.

Volunteers then verify these submissions through a process that includes reviewing images, conducting reverse Google Image searches, cross-referencing with other sources and confirming details through news reports or rapid response networks.

According to the site’s owner, Celeste (who requested her last name remain private for security reasons), verification standards become even more stringent when reported sightings spike—as they have recently. “Last Friday we had 6.1 million unique visitors,” she said. “As of Monday, it was 7.1 million.”

To handle the increased volume while maintaining accuracy, the site has recently introduced “moderating statements” that inform users when their submissions are unrelated to ICE. For example, Celeste explained that users are told when they’ve actually spotted federal protective services vehicles, which “protect federal property and can conduct arrests on federal property, but historically have not been involved in immigration enforcement.”

More about People Over Papers

People Over Papers displays a map of the United States dotted with pins of anonymous users reporting immigration activity in several states like Alabama, Texas and California. It urges people to use the information “with caution and account for human error,” and to cross-reference with state or local rapid response networks.

Pins in L.A. County on People Over Papers range from an alleged sighting of a federal immigration vehicle near a popular shopping center to a photo of a text thread detailing a suspected raid in a warehouse.

Celeste, a user on TikTok, says the site emerged after she and other TikTok creators began collecting ICE activity on a Google spreadsheet.

The mapping tool began without any restrictions, allowing anybody to submit and automatically publish a sighting, said Celeste. Moderators now review submissions before publishing.

Users are asked for the time and location of their sightings, as well as to detail the number of vehicles they’re documenting and to describe the kind of uniform or clothing officers are wearing.

Pictures or videos can be uploaded. Some submit photos of other social media postings from Snapchat, TikTok or Instagram alleging ICE sightings.

In January, when the site appeared to have gone live, Celeste said a team of about 25 volunteers was moderating submissions. “Hopefully this reduces false reporting, duplicate reporting [and] inappropriate reporting,” she said.

The work has been exhausting, Celeste explained, with hundreds of submissions arriving daily since the tool went live. “I can’t guarantee that those are all accurate; some of these are just alleged sightings,” she said.

With time, Celeste hopes to improve the process of removing spam or false reporting.

The work is personal for Celeste, who comes from an immigrant household.

“Right now, this is a team of people that have come together with this cause in our heart, that we want to help, and provide assistance, and we’re doing that with the labor of love,” she said.

“In the future we’re going to be more organized and we’re going to be able to set it up in a way that is sustainable.”

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