Tag: dhs

Digital Surveillance Is Becoming the New Form of Government Power

The latest revelations involving the Department of Homeland Security demanding Google surrender data tied to a Canadian citizen demonstrate just how far governments are pushing digital surveillance powers beyond traditional legal and national boundaries. According to reports from WIRED, DHS used a “customs summons” under the Tariff Act of 1930 to demand location records, account activity, and identifying information connected to a Canadian man who had criticized ICE online following controversial immigration enforcement incidents earlier this year.

The individual reportedly had not entered the United States in more than a decade, yet American authorities still attempted to access his digital information because the technology platforms involved operate under U.S. jurisdiction.

People need to understand the implications because this goes far beyond one investigation or one political controversy. Governments are increasingly treating access to private technology infrastructure as a gateway to global surveillance authority. If your information passes through American technology companies, authorities now appear willing to argue they possess legal grounds to access portions of that data regardless of where you physically reside.

According to the lawsuit described in the WIRED investigation, DHS issued what is known as a customs summons, which functions as an administrative subpoena that does not require prior approval from a judge or grand jury. The summons reportedly demanded records involving location history, account activity, and communications tied to “threatening or harassing language.” The government allegedly justified the request under customs law despite the fact the individual was not accused of importing goods or violating customs duties in any conventional sense.

Authorities rarely begin by openly announcing broad monitoring programs targeting ordinary citizens. They start with politically sensitive cases involving terrorism, immigration enforcement, extremism, sanctions violations, or national security concerns. Then the scope quietly expands over time until governments normalize monitoring broader categories of speech, behavior, and political activity.

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US Customs supervisor busted for stealing Core i7 CPUs, RAM, and hard drives from Homeland Security PCs, damage estimated at $105,800 — stolen tech swapped with inferior hardware and cashed out on Newegg

According to a report from The Maine Wire, the FBI has arrested and charged Terry “Jiajia” Liu, a Customs and Border Protection supervisor based in Calais, Maine, for theft and damage to government property. Liu allegedly stole computer hardware, including Intel 14th Generation Raptor Lake Refresh processors, memory modules, and hard drives, from at least 46 Department of Homeland Security computers across three Maine border facilities. They replaced the stolen parts with inferior hardware and exchanged the stolen equipment through Newegg’s trade-in program for store credit.

Liu’s official responsibilities were limited to information-technology support, so they did not have access to modify any government computer. Port Director Theodore Cummings made the restriction abundantly clear to Liu in a written order: “Please do not move any computers or computer parts.” However, criminals rarely listen.

Hidden surveillance cameras captured Liu opening government computers and swapping hardware during the midnight shift. The perpetrator would take the systems to a training room to commit the crime. One camera recording showed Liu using a screwdriver to scrape thermal paste off a processor and installing a replacement chip in one system. Meanwhile, another recording caught Liu removing a memory module from a system and storing it in their desk drawer.

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HSI Arrests Alleged Former High-Ranking Iraqi Intelligence Officer Who Served Under Saddam Hussein Living in America

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents have arrested Raad Alanbagi after an HSI-led investigation uncovered information tying him to prior service as a high-ranking Iraqi intelligence officer during the Saddam Hussein era.

HSI Detroit announced the arrest in a social media post, stating that special agents discovered information linking Alanbagi to Iraq’s intelligence apparatus during Saddam’s rule.

“HSI special agents arrested Raad Alanbagi after an HSI-led investigation uncovered information tying him to prior service as a high-ranking Iraqi intelligence officer during the Saddam Hussein era.”

HSI has not publicly disclosed his exact rank, intelligence role, alleged conduct, immigration status, or the charges against him.

The arrest raises serious questions about how an individual allegedly connected to Saddam Hussein’s intelligence services was able to enter and remain in the United States.

Saddam’s regime was responsible for widespread persecution, torture, executions, and other atrocities against political opponents and minority communities. Its intelligence services played a central role in enforcing the dictator’s rule.

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“Something’s Going to Happen” – DHS Secretary: Ilhan Omar Did Indeed Marry Her Brother and Commit Immigration Fraud and Could Be Deported 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told conservative media host Benny Johnson on Thursday night that Ilhan Omar did indeed marry her brother and could be deported.

Secretary Mullin confirmed that radical Somali immigrant Omar could be deported during their conversation on the floor of the the RNC National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas.

Secretary Markwayne Mullin: “Something’s going to happen… We know that she married her brother to try to bring him into the United States – possibly some illegal activity…”

“It’s not just this case, we’re looking at a number of cases similar to this where we’re looking at there may have been fraud from the get-go.”

Via Eric Daughterty:

The Gateway Pundit has been reporting on Ilhan’s alleged immigration fraud since 2019.

Do Americans know the story on how Ilhan Omar made it into the United States?  In July 2019 we reported on Omar’s father Nur Said. 

Here is what we reported:
David Steinberg published an extensive report on the alleged crimes and history of Rep. Ilhan Omar and the “Omar” family.

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Whacko Rep. Al Green Demands Free Transgender Treatments for Illegal Aliens – Says Transgender Illegals Face “Hazardous Conditions”

Rep. Al Green on Thursday delivered a press conference with LGBTQ groups in Houston, Texas, where he demanded that the Department of Homeland Security provide hormone treatments and transgender procedures to illegal aliens. 

Greene joined forces with the Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus and the Houston-based Montrose Center “to address the maltreatment of transgender immigrants in ICE detention facilities,” his office announced in a press release.

“We cannot allow people to be punished because of who they are. I have had a history of experiencing this type of punishment simply because the color of my skin,” Greene said to kick off the press conference.

At one point in the press conference, Greene read a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, claiming that illegal aliens in ICE detention facilities are facing “hazardous conditions” because of the lack of gender-affirming care.

He further warned that the lack of “specialized medical care” for so-called transgender illegal aliens “can cause physical and mental health complications” and that “transgender women (men) in detention facilities have been placed either with men or in solitary confinement.”

Daron Perez, who serves as the TransWellness Program Coordinator at The Montrose Center, also spoke and said that one individual, described as a “a transgender Latino community leader,” was denied access to testosterone treatments while in ICE custody.

“Transgender immigrants should not have to wonder: Will I receive my hormones? Will my identity be respected? Will I be safe? Will anybody care? Being detained should never mean losing your dignity, your safety, or access to necessary medical care,” he said.

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A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over

Border Patrol is running secretive predictive policing units that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data, then feed that intelligence to local police who pull people over who are not suspected of any specific crime, but which the government thinks may be worth searching, 404 Media has found.

The units, the name of which 404 Media is revealing here for the first time, are called Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT). In one case, a PITT analyzed the financial activity of a man who was driving across Montana, and local authorities stopped him under the pretense of an obstructed license plate and charged him with a DUI.

404 Media identified one PITT in the Spokane Sector, Washington, which polices the U.S. border with Canada, and another in the Laredo Sector, Texas, which polices the border with Mexico. The findings add to an Associated Press investigation from last year which found Border Patrol was using automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) as part of the same wide-spanning predictive policing program.

“The bottom line is genuine probable cause cannot be synthetically generated,” Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center For Democracy & Technology, told 404 Media in an email. Here Border Patrol seems to be “using parallel construction to cloak the reason behind its car stops in secrecy. If we can’t meaningfully review and evaluate these systems, we can’t trust them,” he added.

Predictive policing is a highly controversial practice that police departments and federal agencies are increasingly turning to. The practice is designed to find people who may have committed crimes, but at the moment, no evidence of them doing so exists. Broadly, law enforcement may analyze data — such as a person’s movements, where they are at a certain time, or the roads they drive — then create or find another pretense to pull them over.

At around 9:30pm one night in May, Kyle William Olson was driving his black Chevy SUV on Interstate 90, with his dog Ducky in the backseat, according to police reports and an interview Olson gave to 404 Media. In Olson’s vehicle were marijuana edibles, marijuana cuttings, and butane hash oil. He works on a licensed cannabis farm in California, where he had picked up the weed, and was transporting it home to Wisconsin, he told 404 Media.

Olson drove past Sergeant James Beck of the Montana Highway Patrol who was sitting in his police car along with a colleague. When Olson passed, Beck noticed the vehicle’s license plate was obstructed by what he described as a tinted cover and the luggage holder, according to a police report. Beck pulled out, caught up to Olson, and pulled him over.

“Nothing major,” Beck said once he approached the passenger side window and exchanged pleasantries with Olson, according to bodycam footage. Beck said Olson’s license plate was “a little bit obstructed.”

“Just so you know, that’s our reason for stopping you,” Beck said. In the end, the officers demanded Olson step out of the vehicle, they tested his blood and charged him with a DUI. Authorities later charged Olson with possession with intent to distribute because of the marijuana in his vehicle, Olson told 404 Media.

But that wasn’t the real reason for stopping Olson.

During discovery in his case, Olson was provided a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document that explained how Border Patrol instigated his traffic stop. Written by Border Patrol Agent Matthew Phelps, the document said Phelps was assigned to the “Spokane Sector Border Patrol Targeting & Intelligence Division (TID) — Predictive Intelligence Targeting Team (PITT).” Olson shared the document with 404 Media.

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Blanch’s DOJ to Investigate Your Private Information Being Given To Election Fraud Groups

Includes YOUR Social Security and Drivers’ License Numbers

The Department of Homeland Security first brought its concerns about this to the Justice Department in September 2025, when Pam Bondi was Attorney General.

More than a year later, Secretary Mullin, who replaced Kristi Noem, wrote to Attorney General Todd Blanche in a letter dated Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, that requests DOJ look into the matter. One year later…

What did Bondi do with this information?? But, I digress…

The same fraud machinery that selected a feeble old man, Joe Biden, over a highly capable candidate, is now setting up to seize the US Senate and House in the 2026 midterms.

Maria Bartiromo was handcuffed by Fox for trying to report on it. You will NOT hear this on any news channel.

(Might Maria Bartiromo become the next Press Secretary, replacing Levitt?)

Last Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security referred possible violations of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act to the DOJ. The issue is the transfer of millions of pieces of Americans’ sensitive personal information data, from their drivers’ records, to two hard left-wing groups, the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation.

These two groups – ERIC and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) – have notorious involvement with election “irregularities”. I have written, repeatedly, about both, since 2021.

Just to refresh your memory, in 2020, CZI gave $350 million to a group called Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), under the auspices of Covid protection for election officials and voters. All in all, less than 3% of the Zuckerberg millions was found to have been used for Covid-related protection; of course, exact numbers are difficult to figure, as the CZI is a private philanthropy.

CTCL was founded by former Obama acolytes. Anyone surprised?

The CZI money was termed, “Zuck Bucks”, and was accepted by election officials around the country. For example, Alan Hayes, Supervisor of Elections in Lake County, FL, took $106,000 of it. That’s a lot of Covid masks for his staff…

Twenty-eight states have now banned these “Zuck Bucks”, but it is really all for show. The election fraud criminals will pull a different stunt. Like your drivers’ license information…

In all, at least 25 states received payouts from Zuckerberg in 2020. The states remaining, were either considered “sure Left” or “hopeless”, I’d assume.

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This Is Why Homeland Security’s Request that DOJ Investigate the ERIC System Is So Damn Important

In January 2022, TGP published a 3-part series about the ERIC non-profit. The Electronic Registration Information Center was supposedly helping 31 states clean their voter rolls. The more data, documents, videos, and transcripts that TGP reviewed, the more ERIC smelled like a cloaked Democrat operation. So we published what we learned about ERIC.

In the weeks and months after our series, the left-wing media conducted an unbelievable campaign to defend ERIC. They, of course, attempted to discredit TGP and intimidate State officials thinking of leaving ERIC.

Eventually, 9 of the 31 member States left the ERIC non-profit for several reasons. Virginia rejoined ERIC in 2026 after a Democrat won the governor’s office. Why was the left-wing media ferociously supporting this tiny non-profit with only 3 employees?

Well, it gave the left access to states’ voter rolls and their coveted MVD/DMV (Motor Vehicle Dept / Dept. of Motor Vehicles) data too! About a year later, Verity Vote confirmed that ERIC data was, in fact, being shared with the left-wing activist group CEIR and David Becker.

The ERIC voter registration non-profit says their “sole mission is assisting states to improve the accuracy of voter rolls and increase access to voter registration.” Most now know the first part is just not true – at all.

ERIC provides five types of reports (lists) to its members. The members must ask ERIC for most of these reports, as frequently as monthly. But ERIC operates like a secret black box – a State makes a report request, and days later their report is ready for download. That election jurisdiction has little idea how these reports were created or if they contain any bias.

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Democrats Cry Foul As DHS Launches Voter Fraud Probe In 9 States

The Department of Homeland Security opened a coordinated voter fraud investigation across nine states this week, and Democratic election officials are not taking the news well…

CNN reported that internal federal guidance directs Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to build criminal cases against people suspected of illegally registering or voting. The effort is described as a “coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative” and will run from early September through mid-October.

Agents began work Tuesday in Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York and Connecticut.

The operation targets noncitizens who registered or cast ballots, including immigrants accused of voting before they naturalized. DHS has directed investigators to coordinate with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which means a noncitizen caught voting faces more than a fine. Criminal charges, a denied citizenship application and deportation are all on the table.

The enforcement push runs through DHS’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, which lets states cross-check voter rolls against federal citizenship and immigration records. Mullin announced in July that states seeking DHS election-related grants must run their rolls through SAVE as a condition of funding.

“Working with Secretary Lutnick, we are going to make our security enhancements mandatory,” Mullin said.

“The machines have to be secured, and your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed. We need to make sure that individuals that are legally able to vote are voting.”

Skeptics might ask whether any of this produces actual prosecutions. It has. Recent federal cases include a Honduran illegal alien arrested for voting in seven federal elections dating back to 2008, a Mexican national who pleaded guilty after falsely claiming citizenship, an Australian national arrested for voting in multiple federal elections, a Chinese national facing voter fraud charges and an illegal alien sentenced for voting under a stolen identity for more than two decades.

While Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office said it would comply with the investigation, officials in the targeted Democratic-run states denounced the operation almost immediately.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office called the operation part of “a broader effort to intimidate Californians” and dismissed DHS’s findings as “seemingly baseless.”

Connecticut Democratic Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas struck a more careful tone, saying she welcomed “any investigation into election malfeasance” while hoping the intent was to find wrongdoing rather than “create chaos.” 

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said he learned about the probe from media reports and complained DHS never contacted his office. “It’s troubling that Homeland Security is wasting taxpayer dollars investigating a phenomenon we know to be false,” Hobbs said, calling the operation “another attempt by the federal government to cause chaos and confusion ahead of the midterms.” 

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called the probe “a joke” and told Trump to “stay out of it because voting is a state issue and not a federal issue.” 

New Jersey offers the cleanest test case of the whole fight. The Trump administration identified at least 35,000 potential noncitizen registered voters in the state. In July, Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill tried to get ahead of the story by admitting the state had 6,600 registered noncitizen voters herself. But then she refused to hand voter data over to the Trump administration. 

 “While ICE Homeland Security Investigations is not able to comment on any active investigations, HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “Our message to aliens who vote in American elections is clear: we will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences—including criminal charges and deportation.”

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Trump DOJ Puts Sanctuary States on Notice: ALL State Agencies Receiving Federal Food Stamp and Social Security Assistance Funds Must Report Known Illegal Aliens to DHS Under Welfare Reform Law Passed by Congress in 1996

The Department of Justice just ripped up a 28-year Clinton-era legal dodge that let sanctuary states hide illegal aliens from federal immigration authorities while collecting billions in welfare money meant for American families.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a formal opinion holding that when a state takes Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) funds, the entire state government, not just the welfare office, must report to the Department of Homeland Security any person the state knows is not lawfully present in the United States.

That is not a new law. That is the 1996 welfare-reform statute Congress actually wrote. The Clinton Justice Department simply pretended it said something else.

“Congress wrote this requirement plainly,” said Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, who leads OLC. “When a state chooses to participate in TANF, it accepts the obligation to report illegal aliens in the United States. Tax dollars intended to help vulnerable Americans should not perversely encourage illegal entry into the United States, but rather should reinforce our laws and our borders.”

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock, the author of the opinion, was even blunter: the new guidance “does not impose new obligations on states.” It “simply restores the original meaning of the statute Congress enacted.” States that take the money “must abide by federal law, and failure to comply may lead to serious consequences, including loss of program funding.”

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories take TANF and SSI. Federal TANF block grants alone exceed $16.4 billion a year.

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