ACLU: Task Force Retaliates Against Activist Hunter Demster

The Memphis Safe Task Force has continued a “campaign of retaliation and intimidation” against a Memphis activist, according to a legal move filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 

Hunter Demster is by now a well-known, outspoken activist working in Memphis to witness and record the actions of the task force. He was seminal in the formation and training of Vecindarios 901, a group committed to watching and filming task force actions. 

The task force struck back at Demster, according to a declaration filed Tuesday in federal court in Memphis. It claims task force agents have appeared outside of Demster’s home and have photographed or filmed him there. The complaint also alleges that agents abused the Halo Law to arrest Demster as he filmed a scene, knocking his legs from underneath him and pinning him to the ground as he argued with agents. 

“The Task Force has tried to punish and intimidate me for exercising my First Amendment rights, but I will not let them chill my speech,” Demster said in a statement. “It is not only concerning, it is also deeply frightening how their retaliation has escalated — all because I show the world what’s going on in Memphis. I have every right to record and observe what goes on in my own neighborhood, and I will not be intimidated into surrendering my free speech.” 

The incidents come just weeks before a federal district court is set to hear arguments in a case in which Demster and others seek to stop the Memphis Safe Task Force from retaliating against them as they record and observe immigration and law enforcement activities.

The declaration Tuesday outlines three separate incidents, all caught on camera and viewable on YouTube. 

The first, from August 26^th, shows Demster watching a large group of agents making an arrest. They yell at him to stay back 25 feet, the distance the Halo Law says citizens must stay from agents as they perform their work. Demster yells back that he is 25 feet away. 

He is then approached by an agent, who tells him he has to keep retreating in order to be 25 feet away from the officer, as he walks toward Demster. In the YouTube video, Demster says: “So, every time you walk towards me, I have to walk back 25 feet?” Demster identified the man as “Agent Dayhoff.”  

Dayhoff nods and continues to walk toward Demster, who is walking backwards. A female agent, tells him, “it’s the law.” 

“It’s not the fucking law,” Demtser says. 

“”We’re securing the perimeter,” the female agent says. 

“Then, put up some fucking tape,” Demster replies. 

“We don’t have tape, sir,” the female agent responds. 

“I am more than 25 feet back,” Demster says. “You can go fuck yourself. Arrest me, then. I’m not breaking the fucking law. Y’all are breaking the law. Go read it.” 

The incident ends with Demster’s arrest. He was eventually released at the scene. 

In a video taken four days after his arrest, a group of Task Force agents amasses across the street from Demster’s home. He approaches the group, filming them. They call him by his name and leave in unmarked cars, according the ACLU. An agent wearing a U.S. Marshals’ vest filmed or photographed Demster, they said. 

Four days after that incident, Demster found a task force vehicle parked outside of his home. He approached the vehicle and asked the agents why they were there. One of the agents put his phone out of the window and filmed or photographed Demster.

“Task Force agents should not be staking out our clients’ homes simply for recording their activities in public,” said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “Nor should they abuse the Halo Law to interfere with our clients’ First Amendment right to record. 

“The Task Force’s unrelenting campaign of harassment against Mr. Demster and our other clients for simply documenting their activities is terrifying and a gross violation of their constitutional rights. The court must step in to protect them.”