Featured Image Credit: John Moore/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, US News
Rhianna Benson
The Department of Homeland Security has put severe new measures in place to suppress opposition against United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
For those in need of a reminder, ICE ramped up its enforcement operations across several states last year under the encouragement of Donald Trump, venturing into major cities and arresting suspected illegal immigrants.
Their volatile techniques immediately prompted widespread protests, which intensified last month in light of the separate murders of demonstrators Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
The former, 37, was fatally shot by an eight-year Border Patrol veteran during a protest on 24 January. Mother-of-three, Good, also 37, died three weeks earlier after an ICE agent fired a bullet at her, whilst she sat behind the wheel of her car.
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The increasingly violent raids have also resulted in families being torn apart and children arrested, as well as eight other killings this year alone (as per The Guardian), all in the name of ICE's 'mission'.
In light of what's going on, the slogan 'ICE OUT' has become a rallying cry at marches, with some campaigners - including several A-list stars - going as far as calling for the agency to be abolished entirely.
In response to the heightened criticism, however, agents in both Minneapolis and Chicago began telling protestors they were being recorded and would be identified using facial recognition devices, and punished. White House border force agent Tom Homan told Fox News he'd recently backed the idea of the creation of a 'database' of individuals who'd been 'arrested for interference, impeding and assault'.
And according to the New York Times, as part of the latest opposition crackdown, the DHS has issued several tech firms with legal requests for the names, contact information, and other identifying data behind social media accounts owned by vocal ICE critics.
Leaders at Google, Reddit, Discord and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) have been subjected to federal subpoenas, making these demands for accounts that do not have a real individual's name attached, both government and tech insiders have told press.
These anonymous employees hadn't received authorisation to speak out, but insist that demands for personal information seriously breaches the data confidentiality of online users.
They said Google, Reddit and Meta of already having complied with a number of requests, despite having no legal obligation.
Two example subpoenas issued to the latter company within the last six months have been obtained and verified by the NYT.
Other firms notified users of their sites of the government's request for their personal information, giving them the opportunity to fight the subpoena in court within two weeks.
The notification supposedly read: "We have received legal process from law enforcement seeking information about your Facebook account.
"If we do not receive a copy of documentation that you have filed in court challenging this legal process within ten (10) days, we will respond to the requesting agency with information."
A Google representative told the publication when approached for comment: "When we receive a subpoena, our review process is designed to protect user privacy while meeting our legal obligations.
"We inform users when their accounts have been subpoenaed, unless under legal order not to or in an exceptional circumstance. We review every legal demand and push back against those that are overboard."
Criticising the latest bid to wipe out ICE opposition, American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania senior supervising attorney Steve Loney told the news outlet: "The government is taking more liberties than they used to. It’s a whole other level of frequency and lack of accountability."
In response to concerns, the DHS insisted it had 'broad administrative subpoena authority', but declined to address online information demands specifically.
Whilst making appearances in court in cases which Loney defended those whose information had been requested, several spokespeople for the DHS also claimed the demand was issued in an attempt to keep ICE agents safe in the field.
Tyla reached out the Department of Homeland Security for comment.