Did you criticize ICE on Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), and Reddit social media platforms? Did you express your contempt when the federal government summarily executed two American citizens for the crime of exercising the First Amendment? If you did, you may be in the gunsights of the Department of Homeland Security.

A New York Times investigation, reported by Gizmodo and echoed by TechCrunch, revealed that the DHS has issued a series ofadministrative subpoenasto tech platforms in recent months seeking to identify information associated with accounts that are critical of ICE. FromThe New York Times:

The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its efforts to identify Americans who oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement by sending tech companies legal requests for the names, email addresses, telephone numbers and other identifying data behind social media accounts that track or criticize the agency.

The “legal requests,” administrative subpoenas, violate the Fourth Amendment. Federal agencies such as ICE and DHS are not permitted to unreasonably “search and seize” information without probable cause and a judicial warrant. In October, an administrative subpoena was issued against a 67-year-old retiree. TheDHS demanded Googlehand over the man’s

IP address and home address; a list of all Google services he had used; the date, time and duration of his online sessions; and other identifiable information, including his usernames, Social Security number, credit card data and driver’s license number.

The federal government circumvented the Constitution when it enacted the Inspector General Act of 1978. Prior to this, during the Nixonian war on drugs, the DEA was granted administrative subpoena authority under the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.

In 1996, the FBI issued administrative subpoenas, known as national security letters. The Stored Communications Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and Right to Financial Privacy Act authorize the federal government to collect information relevant to a national security investigation. The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has frequently used administrative subpoenas in civil investigations of alleged US economic sanctions violations.

Beginning in the first Trump administration, ICE used administrative subpoenas to force state governments to provide information on Americans opposed to deportation. Between 2025 and 2026, during the second Trump administration, DHS began using administrative subpoenas to reveal the names of anonymous users on the internet. DHS officials admit they have targeted people for their speech, a direct violation of the First Amendment.

In acomplaintfiled in the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression,Attorney General Pam BondiandDepartment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noemwereaccused of coercing tech companiesinto removing a large amount of content. The purpose behind this removal was to control what the public could see, hear, or say about ICE operations.

In 2025, amemowas issued by Acting Director of ICE,Todd Lyons, allowing the use of administrative warrants (Form I-205, Warrant of Removal/Deportation) to enter private residences in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Prior to Trump, DHS and ICE (an agency under DHS) were required to specify probable cause and obtain a court issued search warrant. A Supreme Court ruling inAbel v. United Statesin 1960, however, allowed ICE to increase the use of non-judicial administrative subpoenas. The memo does not provide alegal rationalefor violating the Fourth Amendment.

Source: Global Research