ICE subpoenas data from abortion clinics and schools

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using an obscure administrative subpoena called “1509”, intended for use only in criminal investigation about illegal imports or unpaid customs duty. Most requests have sought records from telecommunications companies, technology firms, money transfer services, airlines, and others, but in outlier cases ICE has used 1509s to obtain records from a Texas youth soccer league, a Georgia elementary school, boards of elections, two news organisations and a Lutheran refugee support organisation, as well as surveillance video from an Illinois abortion provider. Context is necessary in order to be sure these requests were illegitimate; investigations involving child sexual abuse material may explain at least some of them. 

ICE subpoenas data from abortion clinics and schools

Publication: Wired
Writer: Dhruv Mehrotra