DHS Issues Customs Summons to Google for Data on Canadian Citizen Amid Anti-ICE Controversy
The Department of Homeland Security has demanded location data and activity logs from Google regarding an unnamed Canadian man, citing the Tariff Act of 1930 in a move that civil liberties groups argue exploits the geographic status of big tech firms.
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a customs summons to Google seeking the location data, activity logs, and identifying information of an unnamed Canadian citizen. This administrative request, grounded in the Tariff Act of 1930, specifically targets the individual's online activity on X following posts that condemned the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents.
The man, who has not entered the United States in over a decade, is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a lawsuit against DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. His legal team argues that the government is misusing customs laws to access data on a foreign resident outside US jurisdiction, exploiting the fact that big tech companies are based in the United States to obtain information they would otherwise be unable to secure.
The summons covers the period between 1 September 2025 and 4 February 2026, a timeframe during which the man's lawyers state he did not import or export any goods from the US. Despite this lack of trade activity, the request specifically targets records regarding "History of Account Suspensions or Violations of Terms due to Threatening or Harassing Language," linking the investigation directly to his social media commentary rather than customs compliance.
Google notified the man of the request on 9 February, despite the summons containing language intended to prevent indefinite non-disclosure of the request's existence. A customs summons is a type of administrative subpoena that does not require review by a judge or grand jury before issuance, a mechanism critics say allows the agency to bypass traditional judicial oversight.
This incident follows a pattern of similar actions, including a March event where DHS withdrew a customs subpoena for an anonymous Reddit user after a lawsuit, subsequently switching to a grand jury subpoena. Historical data indicates that between 2016 and mid-August 2022, DHS issued over 170,000 customs summons, with big tech firms being common recipients of such requests.
The lawsuit alleges that the government is violating the customs law that grants the agency the power to request records from businesses. Perloff, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU representing the man, contends that the physical movements of a person living in Canada fall outside the scope of the statute, describing the tactic as appalling for a nation that once advised others on protecting citizens from foreign oppression.
