Support the GAO Investigation Into DHS Secret Surveillance of Journalists and Civilians

Support the GAO investigation that Senators Wyden and Representative Jayapal have requested into the Trump administration's abuse of administrative summonses. The Department of Homeland Security is using an obscure customs law to secretly seize phone records, financial data, and social media information on journalists, unions, and nonprofits — with no judicial oversight and no notification to the targets. This isn't a gray area. HSI obtained six months of phone records from journalist Georgia Fort and then, after a judge twice rejected a search warrant for YouTube account data on Fort and Don Lemon, simply bypassed the court entirely using an administrative summons. That's not a workaround — that's the government ignoring a judge's decision. DHS has also used these summonses to unmask anonymous critics of the agency on Meta, X, and Reddit. The non-disclosure language buried in these summonses is not legally binding, yet companies like AT&T and CVS have cited government pressure as justification for staying silent when customers' records are handed over. The GAO investigation needs to happen, and it needs your full support. Back this inquiry and push for real accountability before these tools become permanent fixtures of government surveillance.