Politics
DHS faces criticism for using customs statute to seek private records on media and groups
Legal experts and civil liberties groups question the Department of Homeland Security's use of 19 USC 1509 summonses without judicial approval.
The short version
- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used administrative summonses under customs law 19 USC 1509 to seek private records from tech and telecommunications companies.
- Targeted entities and individuals include journalists, news organizations, non-profit groups, unions, and social media users who criticized immigration officials.
- Former government lawyers and privacy advocates argue the statute is intended strictly for customs investigations rather than domestic law enforcement or speech oversight.
- It remains uncertain how frequently DHS issues 1509 summonses or how many total requests companies have complied with.
Key facts
- Federal prosecutors twice applied for search warrants to obtain YouTube account information for journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon, but a judge rejected the requests for lacking probable cause.[The Guardian]
- Following the warrant rejections, DHS issued an administrative summons under 19 USC 1509 to Google seeking YouTube account data without judicial approval; Google declined to comply, stating DHS did not show a link to a customs investigation.[The Guardian]
- DHS obtained six months of T-Mobile call and text logs for Fort without advance notice to her, producing them to her legal team in July.[The Guardian]
- DHS has sought information on YouTube accounts linked to Democracy Now, Megyn Kelly, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager.[The Guardian]
- DHS obtained financial records for the Sunrise Movement, the SEIU, and the Communications Workers of America, as well as Venmo records for Voices for Racial Justice, in connection with a case involving 15 criminal conspiracy defendants.[The Guardian]
- Department of Justice lawyers argued in court filings that 19 USC 1509 authorizes DHS to investigate potential federal crimes broadly to ensure compliance with laws administered by the agency.[The Guardian]
What remains uncertain
- The total number of 1509 administrative summonses served by DHS and the full extent of company compliance remain unknown because the records are not routinely public.[The Guardian]
- Specific reasons why DHS sought user account data for various news outlets and podcasters were not detailed by officials.[The Guardian]