You need to pass legislation that explicitly prohibits federal agencies like ICE from using commercial location data, geofencing tools, and license plate databases to track American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. Two recent cases make clear this is already happening. David Streever, a US citizen, was tracked by ICE agents to a New York City hotel room at 9:55 PM — the only thing connecting him to ICE was an email he'd sent criticizing the agency's director five months earlier. Paigelynne Gonyea, a poll worker in Syracuse, was tracked to her polling station and handed a letter demanding she delete an Instagram post critical of an ICE officer.
This is not immigration enforcement. ICE has purchased geofencing software that captures every phone in a defined area, a database of over 20 billion license plate scans, and commercial location data specifically to sidestep the Supreme Court's 2018 ruling requiring warrants for phone tracking. The Justice Department has also subpoenaed X and Reddit to unmask users who criticized the deportation program. A September 2025 executive order now classifies opposition to ICE as a terrorist tactic. The infrastructure to silence dissent is already built and operational.
Introduce and push through legislation that bans federal purchase of commercial location data without a warrant, prohibits using surveillance tools against citizens engaged in protected speech, and creates real criminal penalties for agents who do. The First Amendment means nothing if the government can track you to your hotel room for sending a critical email.
First sent on July 5 by States ask for townhalls
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