Homeland Security has reportedly sent out hundreds of subpoenas to identify ICE critics online
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reportedly asked tech companies for information on accounts displaying anti-ICE sentiments. According to The New York TimesDHS has sent hundreds of administrative subpoenas to Google, Reddit, Discord and Meta in recent months. Homeland Security asked companies for the names, email addresses, phone numbers and any other identifying details of accounts that have criticized the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency or reported the locations of its agents. Google, Meta and Reddit granted certain requests
Administrative subpoenas are different from warrants and are issued by DHS. The times says they were rarely used in the past and were mainly sent to companies to investigate serious crimes, such as child trafficking. Apparently the government has ramped up its use over the past year. “It’s a whole other level of frequency and lack of accountability,” Steve Loney, senior supervising attorney for the ACLU, told the publication.
Companies can choose whether or not to comply with the authorities, and some of them allow up to 14 days for the person subpoenaed to challenge it in court. Google said The times that its process for reviewing government requests is “designed to protect user privacy while respecting [its] legal obligations” and that it notifies users when their accounts have been subpoenaed, unless legally ordered not to do so or in exceptional circumstances. “We review each legal request and push back on those that are too broad,” the company said.
Some of the subpoenaed accounts belong to users posting about ICE activity in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on Facebook and Instagram in English and Spanish. DHS asked Meta for their names and contact information on September 11, and users were notified on October 3. They were told that if Meta did not receive documentation that they were fighting the subpoena in court within 10 days, Meta would provide Homeland Security with the information it requested. The ACLU filed a petition on behalf of the users in court, arguing that DHS uses administrative subpoenas as a tool to suppress the speech of people with whom it disagrees.
In late January, Meta began blocking links to ICE List, a website that lists thousands of names of ICE and Border Patrol agents. A few days ago, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) also called on Apple and Google to forgo all communications with the U.S. Department of Justice in order to investigate the removal of ICE tracking apps from their respective app stores.
