DHS is using obscure law to snoop on journalists, non-profits, unions

The Trump administration has used an obscure customs law (19 USC 1509) to secretly obtain private information from journalists, non-profits, and unions without judicial oversight, bypassing court rejections of similar requests. In one case, DHS obtained six months of telephone records for Minneapolis journalist Georgia Fort and sought YouTube data after a judge twice rejected the same request for lacking probable cause. The maneuver raises alarm among legal experts and press freedom advocates, who argue the government is misusing a customs statute designed for import duty investigations to conduct domestic surveillance.