The only *very* small good thing is that they’re not doing it to everyone. Yet. But they’ve figured out how to get some people’s information without going through a court. And they’re doing it in such a way it balances on the edge of legal. With Markwayne in place, he’ll happily do any underhanded tricks to get data. And we thought Gnome was bad. He’s half a hundred times worse.
He glories in the power and the rank. He’s not keeping his department under control. He’s letting them loose, and wait until the shock gloves arrive. All of us here at Pz have come up with humorous “oops” moments, and with any luck, we’ll hear about some of them happening. It will serve them right. But when they get those things, there will be absolutely no guardrails possible. ICE isn’t listening to anyone anymore. We need an ICE team for ICE, not that it would keep them under control that way, either.
DHS is using a Trump trick – they have found a little-known provision that allows them to demand certain types of information. The article wasn’t specific about whether people knew this or not, so it’s not a question that can be asked quite yet. This provision is nasty and allows them to send out subpoenas to get information. According to the article, one company refused, and the other agreed and then passed it on.
You might know this already because I am nothing if not consistent – my gratitude to Raw Story:
The Department of Homeland Security has been leaning on a customs-import provision to demand phone logs, social media account details, and financial data with only an agency official’s approval and instructions to keep requests secret, according to a Saturday report by The Guardian. [Apparently, people do NOT know. Ungood.] “They don’t want a judge to take away this scary tool,” warned Lauren Regan, the executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center. “They are getting stuff out of it.” “It’s outrageous conduct on so many levels,” John Roth, who ran the DHS inspector general’s office from 2014 to 2017, told The Guardian. He called the DHS tactic an “improper use of the subpoena under any circumstances. This is not a customs case; it is not a customs violation. They are not investigating a customs violation.”
Is it possible for a judge to block this? Hopefully we will find out. There has to be some sort of way to block it, right? We do still have a bunch of decent judges out there. But until someone finds a way to fight it, we’re out of luck. DHS does not like protestors, so we know they’ll keep trying to use this until we figure out how to push them back on it.
Here’s a quote from the article by The Guardian. The entire thing is *well* worth the read and is quite educational. Stop by.
“I don’t buy that,” said Duncan, the former DHS lawyer. “It’s not a free-for-all that was thrown in there. Congress does not operate that way. Given these provisions were specifically incorporated into Title 19, the customs statute, Congress obviously intended to authorize only records, demands, and interviews in furtherance of investigations into customs violations, not wild goose chases into possible violations of any federal law without any judicial oversight.”
That has potential. Hopefully, someone will do a deeper run on it, but it belongs to the professionals, not this armchair guessing. Let’s hope more comes out about this so someone can figure out how to block them. In the meantime, overreach much, Markwayne?
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that, of all the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest-working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
