DHS Has Used This Controversial Investigative Tool 185,000 Times Since Trump Took Office
Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative wing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that normally takes on transnational crime, estimates it has sent out at least 185,000 administrative subpoenas since the start of the Trump administration, according to a recent court filing. The figure shows how HSI has increasingly relied on this warrantless authority to conduct investigations.
To put HSI’s estimate into perspective, a previous WIRED analysis found that in the more than six and a half years from the start of 2016 to mid-August 2022, ICE agents only sent out around 170,000 of a type of administrative subpoena called a 1509 customs summons.
The number of administrative subpoenas was revealed as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Securityfiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Aaron Mackey, deputy legal director at the nonprofit, says the EFF hopes to get more details about the 185,000...
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