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ACLU Sues DHS Over Bid to Unmask Canadian Critic With a Customs Summons

Civil liberties lawyers argue the move stretches a customs tool far beyond import cases.

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President Donald Trump listens as Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin during the swearing-in at the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Markwayne Mullin, shown speaking at the White House on March 24 after being sworn in as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has been named in a lawsuit filed by a Canadian resident after the department requested Google user data associated with an account that made social media posts that were critical of the U.S. administration.
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Overview

  • A new federal lawsuit challenges a Department of Homeland Security order that sought to force Google to identify an anonymous Canadian who posted criticism of U.S. immigration enforcement.
  • The customs summons asked Google for the user’s location history, activity logs, and other identifying details for Sept. 1, 2025 through Feb. 4, 2026, even though the plaintiff says he has not entered the United States since 2015.
  • Google alerted the account holder on Feb. 9 despite a request in the summons not to disclose it, and the company says it reviews each demand and pushes back when it is overbroad or improper.
  • DHS cited Section 1509 of the Tariff Act, which lets the agency demand records without a judge for customs investigations, and the ACLU says using it to track an overseas political critic chills speech and exceeds the law’s scope.
  • Reporting shows Google, Meta, Reddit, and Discord have received hundreds of similar administrative demands in recent months, and a past DHS watchdog review found policy violations in the use of this tool, signaling a wider fight over cross‑border data access and online anonymity.