Demster v Blanche Notice of Supplemental Materials

MEMPHIS – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, Selendy Gay PLLC, and BraunHagey Borden LLP filed a declaration on behalf of client Hunter Demster detailing the Memphis Safe Task Force’s continuing campaign of retaliation and intimidation against him for recording immigration and law enforcement activity. Memphis Safe Task Force (Task Force) agents also abused Tennessee’s Halo Law to tackle and arrest Mr. Demster while he was recording them apprehending an individual. On two occasions over five days, Task Force agents have appeared outside Mr. Demster’s home and photographed or filmed him and his home. Mr. Demster was also pinned down and arrested after Task Force agents abused the Halo Law to continue to push him back and obstruct his view of a scene while recording. The Halo Law criminalizes approaching within 25 feet of an officer after receiving an order to stop approaching or to retreat. Agents used the law as a moving wall, repeatedly issuing new stop-approaching orders as they walked toward Mr. Demster, so that standing still counted as a violation. Videos of these incidents are available here. The incidents come just weeks before a federal district court is set to hear argument on Mr. Demster and other plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the Memphis Safe Task Force from retaliating against our clients who seek to record and observe immigration and law enforcement activities. Alongside the motion, the legal team filed numerous declarations describing how multiple Memphians have been threatened with arrest, intimidated with Task Force vehicles, experienced unlawful traffic stops, and witnessed continued surveillance outside their homes after they filmed the Task Force. “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,” said Hunter Demster, plaintiff. “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 filing details three incidents. The first incident occurred on August 26, 2026, when Mr. Demster observed a group of Task Force agents and proceeded to record the agents’ activities on the sidewalk. Despite not interfering with or impeding Task Force activity, several agents pointed at him and yelled “25 feet.” While he was retreating, two agents continually approached him while repeatedly invoking the Halo Law. When Mr. Demster asserted that he was considerably more than 25 feet back from the scene and exercising his First Amendment right to record, an agent responded, “You’ve gotta be 25 feet back from me because I’ve extended the scene.” Shortly after, agents surrounded Mr. Demster, tackled him to the ground, pinned him down, restrained his legs, and handcuffed him. Videos of Mr. Demster's arrest are available here, here, and here. While Mr. Demster was under arrest, Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, legal director of the ACLU of Tennessee and co-counsel in this litigation, arrived at the scene. Despite identifying himself as Mr. Demster’s attorney and attempting to speak with Mr. Demster, Mr. Cameron-Vaughn was also ordered to retreat 25 feet and threatened with arrest. Mr. Demster was eventually released at the scene. Video of invocation of the Halo Law against Mr. Cameron-Vaughn is available here. The second incident occurred on August 30, 2026, four days after Mr. Demster was arrested. Mr. Demster was at home when a group of Task Force agents amassed across the street from his home. When Mr. Demster approached the group of agents, one of the agents called Mr. Demster by his name. The agents departed in unmarked vehicles approximately ten minutes later, and, as they left, an agent wearing a U.S. Marshals vest photographed or filmed Mr. Demster and his house. Video of the agents across the street from Mr. Demster’s house is available here. The third incident occurred on September 3, 2026. When Mr. Demster arrived at his home, he saw a Memphis Safe Task Force vehicle parked immediately outside his home. Mr. Demster approached the vehicle and asked why agents were outside his house and if he could help them. One of the agents said no. While Mr. Demster was filming the vehicle, an individual inside the SUV extended his phone out the window and photographed or filmed Mr. Demster. Video of the agents parked outside Mr. Demster’s home and photographing or filming Mr. Demster is available here and here. "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.” Since September 2025, thousands of federal, state, and local agents have flooded the streets of Memphis as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, a 31-agency Task Force that has aggressively patrolled the city at the invitation of Governor Bill Lee and President Donald Trump. Agents and officers working with the Memphis Safe Task Force have terrorized local communities, conducting mass traffic stops and large-scale immigration arrests, primarily in communities of color. With Task Force abuses upending daily life in Memphis — a city already rocked by historic and pervasive law enforcement violence — ordinary Memphians have taken to the streets to observe and record their activities. “Task Force agents used Tennessee’s Halo Law as a moving barrier to push Mr. Demster farther and farther from the scene he was documenting,” said Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, legal director with the ACLU of Tennessee. “When I identified myself as his attorney and tried to speak with him after his arrest, agents threatened me with arrest too. No one should face intimidation, surveillance, or arrest for peacefully recording law enforcement activity in their own community. The court must act to protect our clients’ First Amendment right to observe and document what public officials do in public.” A hearing for the legal team’s motion for a preliminary injunction will be held on September 23, 2026, in Memphis. The lawsuit was filed in mid-May by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, the ACLU Foundation of Tennessee, Selendy Gay PLLC, and BraunHagey & Borden LLP in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. The named defendants include Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the heads of DHS, ICE, CBP, the U.S. Marshals, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol.