(José Niño, Headline USA) Chandler Patey has spent months protesting outside his local ICE facility in South Portland, offering protesters access to his bathroom or a place to wash off pepper spray, according to Oregon Live. The Department of Homeland Security sees something different. To them, the 29 year old “is the leader of Antifa in Portland, OR.”
That designation appears in an internal report produced by DHS. Patey faces no criminal charges and resembles what investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein describes as a “random protester” plucked off Minneapolis streets, yet federal authorities have branded him a domestic terrorist.
Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Jesse Waters characterized Patey’s residence as an “Antifa safe house” across multiple segments. The federal government appears to have embraced this narrative. Leaked documents obtained by Klippenstein show Patey and numerous other American protesters have been labeled domestic terrorists, with their private information “collected and stored in a DHS intelligence system.”
The DHS did not respond when asked how this squares with spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin’s previous statement that “There is NO database of ‘domestic terrorists’ run by DHS.”
‘Antifa safehouse’ leader at Portland ICE protests singled out in federal records (by @FedorZarkhin)https://t.co/uKIbC7QEKA
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) February 4, 2026
Documents reveal that since nearly the beginning of the Trump administration, DHS has worked to assemble evidence of an epidemic of left wing domestic terrorism, no matter how thin the supporting material.
Customs and Border Protection and other agencies under the DHS’s umbrella produce this evidence through the Intelligence Reporting System Next Generation, a portal created to track foreign terrorists attempting to enter America. Federal agents can access at least 28 different government databases through this system, including the Terrorist Screening Dataset, Watchlist Service, National Crime Information Center, and Automated Biometric Identification System.
The system also accesses DMV licenses, license plate data, information from confiscated electronic devices, and “certain law enforcement and intelligence data,” according to a DHS privacy assessment issued during the first week of the Trump administration.
As agents gather information about individuals like Patey, they use the system to track legal names, aliases, birthdates, social security numbers, passport numbers, home addresses and biographical details.
“Chandler Patey was identified through open source research as an active participant in the protests,” his entry states. “Online platforms indicate he is the leader of Antifa in Portland, OR. Patey is seen in many videos advocating the principles of Antifa.”
Those online platforms translate to content from social media sites. Ingraham declared in October “ANTIFA SAFE HOUSE EXPOSED—and Portland police look the other way.”
Portland police looked away because little warranted attention. When asked about his supposed safe house, Patey showed local news his apartment. “This is my very normal apartment, and it has been referred to by right wing social media grifters as the ‘Antifa safe house,'” Patey told The Oregonian. “But I just let people use my sink and use my bathroom.”
One homeland security official told Klippenstein that many federal agents have embraced rhetoric about shadowy Antifa networks. “Intel frequently has Alex Jones level paranoia and wild leaps” about Antifa, the official stated. “‘So and so has made threats and may be Antifa’; ‘such and such motorcycle club has Antifa loyalty.'”
Other leaked documents show similar surveillance of activists. Dustin Ragsdale, photographed holding a pride flag while wearing sweatpants with a Batman logo, is described as “aggressive to counterprotesters” with further research being conducted. A photographer using the pseudonym Mossy Matriarch who advocated collecting supplies for Portland protesters also appears in the system, despite no criminal allegations.
These documents carry “LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE” stamps, preventing their release through Freedom of Information Act requests.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
