ICE Targets Student Activists’ Google & Meta Data With Secret Subpoenas

In the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza, U.S. immigration authorities have escalated surveillance against international students and activists, sparking fear across campuses. At Cornell University, graduate students Momodou Taal and Amandla Thomas-Johnson fled their dorms, convinced they were being targeted. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the intelligence wing of ICE, pursued them aggressively, sending subpoenas to Google and Meta for access to their Gmail, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. “It was a phishing expedition,” Taal later said, describing the fishing-for-information tactics used to track him.

In Thomas-Johnson’s case, Google turned over data before he was even notified or given a chance to fight the subpoena. By the time he learned of the demand, he had already left the U.S. Legal experts warned that these secretive measures strip people of their rights. 

“Subpoenas can easily be used and the person never knows,” explained Cardozo law professor Lindsay Nash. She added, “It’s problematic to have a situation in which people who are targeted by these subpoenas don’t have an opportunity to vindicate their rights.” Unlike search warrants, administrative subpoenas don’t require a judge’s approval or evidence of a crime, making them vulnerable to abuse.

The Intercept revealed that ICE invoked a sweeping legal authority to justify its demands, citing a statute that lets immigration officers request any documents tied to a person’s ability to “enter, reenter, reside in, or pass through the United States.” One study found ICE uses this authority hundreds of times per year, often seeking location data to hunt down targets. This reliance on dragnet tactics, paired with Silicon Valley’s willingness to comply, has put activists at heightened risk.

Link: Miami Herald