Journalist Sues FAA Over Drone No Fly Zone Designed to Prevent Filming ICE

Minnesota [photojournalist Rob Levine](https://www.roblevinephotography.com/about.php?ref=404media.co) and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [are suing the Federal Aviation Administration](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.42952/gov.uscourts.cadc.42952.01208831960.0_1.pdf?ref=404media.co) over a recently issued restriction that prevents drones from flying within 3,000 feet of Department of Homeland Security buildings and vehicles, an amorphous no-fly zone that encompasses Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. The FAA [issued the temporary flight restriction](https://www.404media.co/feds-create-drone-no-fly-zone-that-would-stop-people-filming-ice/) (TFR) in January as ICE agents flooded the streets of Minneapolis. The rule established a no fly zone of 3,000 feet around “Department of Homeland Security facilities and mobile assets,” a restriction that Levine and his lawyers argue is impossible to follow and is aimed at curtailing the First Amendment rights of journalists. “Because there is no means of verifying in advance whether DHS vehicles—such as unmarked cars driven by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents—are operating in a given location, the practical consequence is that drone pilots nationwide cannot know whether a flight will expose them to liability,” Levine’s lawyers [argued in a court document](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.42952/gov.uscourts.cadc.42952.01208831960.0_1.pdf?ref=404media.co). Levine lives in Minneapolis and spent the early days of Operation Metro Surge using his drone to capture footage of protests and ICE agents. Then the TFR hit. “It sent a shiver down my spine,” he told 404 Media. “I’m like ‘Oh my god.’ In a city like Minneapolis at the time with, I don’t know, three or four thousand DHS agents in various stages of uniform or undercoverness or civilian cars that they had switched license plates on? Masquerading as delivery men? They were everywhere here. I immediately grounded myself because there was no way you could know in advance whether or not you were violating that \[flight restriction\]. And when you’re flying they could drive by and you might not even know it.” Read now: [https://www.404media.co/journalist-sues-faa-over-drone-no-fly-zone-designed-to-prevent-filming-ice/](https://www.404media.co/journalist-sues-faa-over-drone-no-fly-zone-designed-to-prevent-filming-ice/)

Oh don't worry. The police ignore FAA regulations too.