CITIZENS’ PRIVACY RIGHTS DO NOT BELONG TO THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The politicization of the US military is accelerating. The politicization of data is indisputable. Elon’s DOGE claims to be saving Americans money, though reporting shows that effort is largely a failure. But what DOGE is really doing is burrowing into Americans’ data. And using that data collection to target the undocumented. ICE has been using a database that enables officials to search for people using metrics including scars or tattoos, bankruptcy filings, SS number, hair color, and race. The system, called Investigative Case Management (ICM), was created by billionaire Peter Thiel’s software company Palantir. Which in 2022 signed a $95.9M contract with the government to develop ICM. Sweet. More government-enabled coup d’etat. DOGE staffers embedded in agencies across the government sent the first 6,300 names of individuals whose temporary legal status had just been canceled. Including 8 minors they claim are on a terror watchlist and have FBI criminal records. The SSA worked with the administration to get those people to “self-deport” by adding them to the agency's “death master file.” That file is supposed to track people whose death means they should no longer receive benefits. Using it against the living is basically financial murder. Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause resigned after the IRS and the DHS agreed to share sensitive taxpayer data with immigration authorities. Until now, the IRS had always protected sensitive taxpayer information, regardless of immigration status. Ultimately, Treasury Sec. Bessent signed the IRS agreement with HSA Sec. Noem. So now there is no longer any defense against the unlawful use of taxpayer data by the Trump administration. DOGE has been working with Palantir and the IRS in a giant “hackathon.” Their goal is to build a system that will be able to access ALL IRS records. Using names, addresses, job data, and SS numbers, that can then be compared with data from other agencies. But this meddling continues to be riddled with errors. This week the government sent threatening emails to U.S. citizens, green card holders, and even a Canadian (in Canada) terminating “your parole” and giving them seven days to leave the U.S. Errors also resulted in illegal imprisonment in another country. If noncitizens can be snatched off the streets, sent to prison in another country, with no recourse to correct the error because the person is out of reach of U.S. jurisdiction, the administration could, and likely would, do the same thing to citizens. Trump mused, and the WH press secretary echoed, as much. By April 20, Hegseth and Noem are supposed to report to Trump whether they think he should invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act to use the military to aid in mass deportations. This is nuts. Get your head out of the sand. Do you really think it would stop there? What will you do to stop the blatant abuse of power we’re seeing?