US Senator Ron Wyden has taken aim at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, accusing her of abusing customs law to unmask social media accounts tracking the activity of ICE agents.
In a letter sent on Friday, Wyden called for an end to what he described as "manifestly improper use" of this authority, writing that "DHS appears to be abusing this authority to repress First Amendment protected speech." The move comes in response to a recent effort by the Trump administration to unmask Instagram and Facebook accounts monitoring immigration agents in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
This is not an isolated incident, as similar efforts have been reported in the past. In 2017, CBP attempted to reveal the identity of the operator of a Twitter account critical of President Donald Trump, invoking customs law without explanation. Following public outcry, DHS rescinded its legal summons and launched an internal investigation.
A subsequent report by the DHS Office of Inspector General found that while CBP had initially claimed it needed the account's identity to "investigate possible criminal violations," it had issued its legal demand based solely on its authority for customs duties collection. The OIG proposed reforms, which CBP agreed to, including a new policy requiring all summonses be reviewed for "legal sufficiency" and receive a sign-off from CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility.
Wyden's letter specifically highlights the case involving Meta, where DHS issued a summons to force the social media platform to disclose the identity of MontCo Community Watch, an account tracking immigration authorities north of Philadelphia. The summons was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in response to concerns about its constitutionality.
Wyden has requested that Noem rescind these unlawful summonses and ensure DHS complies with statutory limitations on using customs law to investigate non-import related activities.
In a letter sent on Friday, Wyden called for an end to what he described as "manifestly improper use" of this authority, writing that "DHS appears to be abusing this authority to repress First Amendment protected speech." The move comes in response to a recent effort by the Trump administration to unmask Instagram and Facebook accounts monitoring immigration agents in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
This is not an isolated incident, as similar efforts have been reported in the past. In 2017, CBP attempted to reveal the identity of the operator of a Twitter account critical of President Donald Trump, invoking customs law without explanation. Following public outcry, DHS rescinded its legal summons and launched an internal investigation.
A subsequent report by the DHS Office of Inspector General found that while CBP had initially claimed it needed the account's identity to "investigate possible criminal violations," it had issued its legal demand based solely on its authority for customs duties collection. The OIG proposed reforms, which CBP agreed to, including a new policy requiring all summonses be reviewed for "legal sufficiency" and receive a sign-off from CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility.
Wyden's letter specifically highlights the case involving Meta, where DHS issued a summons to force the social media platform to disclose the identity of MontCo Community Watch, an account tracking immigration authorities north of Philadelphia. The summons was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in response to concerns about its constitutionality.
Wyden has requested that Noem rescind these unlawful summonses and ensure DHS complies with statutory limitations on using customs law to investigate non-import related activities.
I'm not surprised to see Wyden going after Noem, this whole thing reeks of overreach 
. Can't say I agree with the Trump admin's efforts either, but Wyden's got some valid concerns about abuse of power 
. It seems like DHS is using customs law for all sorts of things that aren't even related to actual imports...it's a slippery slope, man 
. We need more transparency and accountability from our agencies, especially when it comes to individual freedoms 
Forcing everyone to have a social media profile with their face and name on it? That's just creepy. 
I mean, come on, Kristi Noem and her people think they can just abuse the system like that? And Ron Wyden's all over it, calling them out for using customs law to spy on people's online activities. It's literally the First Amendment right there, protected speech and all that jazz... 
. If the gov can use customs law to track people online, that's a major red flag 
. It feels like they're trying to control what ppl say and think 
. We need more transparency and accountability from DHS, for sure 
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. Now, it seems like the government's got some fancy tools at its disposal and they're using them to silence dissenting voices.
this is just so not right, you know? like, the government should be protecting people's rights, not abusing their power to silence them... it's so scary when we think about our freedom of speech being taken away 
i mean, i've heard stories about CBP trying to reveal the identity of people who were just speaking out against trump... that's not right, dude 
of a shield with an X through it 
️
It feels like we're living in a real-life episode now. I mean, come on, DHS Secretary Noem? You can't just use customs law to unmask people's social media accounts like it's going out of style... that's some serious overreach if you ask me 
, Wyden's being too lenient here. if DHS is abusing this authority, then it's because they think they can just disregard the law and get away with it 
. i mean, if the Trump admin was doing this stuff, would we be having a big deal about it? nope, we'd just be like "oh, great, another example of Trump being Trump" 
. wyden should be calling for more oversight and consequences for DHS, not just asking them to rescind some summons 
It's time for some real change, you know? 
It's also super suspicious that this is happening again after what went down with CBP back in 2017... did they just forget about all the backlash they got? 
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