Trump’s DHS is using an obscure law to secretly snoop on journalists, non-profits and unions: ‘It’s outrageous’

Key Points:

• The Trump administration has used an obscure legal provision, 19 USC 1509, originally intended for customs investigations, to obtain private information from journalists, non-profits, and unions without judicial oversight, raising serious concerns about government overreach.
• In one case, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obtained six months of phone records for Minneapolis journalist Georgia Fort without notifying her, despite a judge previously rejecting government requests for her YouTube account data due to lack of probable cause.
• DHS has deployed this summons tactic to bypass judicial scrutiny, demanding sensitive data such as IP addresses and login information from social media accounts involved in protest coverage, as well as financial records of activist groups and unions not charged with crimes.
• Legal experts and former DHS officials criticize the use of the customs-related summons for domestic investigations unrelated to customs violations, calling it an improper and overbroad application that threatens First Amendment protections and privacy rights.
• Social media companies often notify users of these data requests but place the burden on individuals to legally challenge them, a costly and difficult process, while DHS has sometimes withdrawn summonses when challenged in court to avoid judicial rulings on the legality of this practice.