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You Should Be Concerned About the Trump Administration’s Abuse of Personal Data
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The Trump administration is accessing, centralizing, and weaponizing individuals’ government-held personal data to advance its draconian and inhumane anti-immigrant agenda. It claims to have created a searchable national data system ([link removed]) for election officials to use to verify voters’ citizenship — an unprecedented consolidation of agency-held data ([link removed]) for blatantly partisan and xenophobic purposes, including the targeting of immigrants for mass detention and deportation.

The administration is refusing to say exactly what information it’s using in this citizenship data system, how reliable that material is, or how it plans to keep the data secure. At the same time, it’s taking a hatchet to federal agencies ([link removed]) — including some ([link removed]) it claims to have scraped data ([link removed]) from — and also refusing to answer questions about those destructive actions ([link removed]) .


We’re investigating ([link removed]) . With the Campaign Legal Center, we filed 17 public records requests ([link removed]) for records that could show what information the Trump administration is using in its national data system, and how the system may weaponize sensitive information to target immigrants and undermine voting rights.
* Last month, we sent requests to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the “U.S. DOGE Service” (USDS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Social Security Administration (SSA), seeking the release of top officials’ communications, contracts, and directives related to the system.
* These records could shed light on how the system is fueling anti-voting rights activists’ efforts and encouraging policies that disenfranchise eligible voters and could ultimately chill voter turnout, especially among people of color and naturalized citizens.
* Read more here ([link removed]) about how we’re investigating the Trump administration’s compromise of Americans’ personal information and potential misuse of data included in the searchable citizenship system.


Fighting Back Against the Trump Administration’s Attacks on the Freedom of Information

In another attempt to evade transparency, the Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that it would unlawfully require Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesters to re-confirm their interest in pending requests to the agency before producing the records — a move that could result in countless unlawfully closed FOIA requests submitted by media outlets, nonpartisan organizations, and members of the public.
* On Wednesday, we sued DOE ([link removed]) , arguing that this unlawful requirement exceeds the agency’s authority under FOIA, violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and undermines Congress’ clear intent that agencies process public records requests in a timely manner.
* The new policy would directly impact outstanding requests that we submitted to the agency before October 1, 2024 — which have already languished without responses for nearly a year or longer.
* “The Trump administration doesn’t get to invent new hoops for the public to jump through to obtain lawfully requested government records,” our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said. “It appears that the Department of Energy is being used by the administration as a trial balloon for dismantling FOIA, and if the court doesn’t step in now, this unlawful policy will spread and gut the public’s right to know across the federal government.”


A Win for Harvard and for Education

A court ruled this week that the Trump administration unlawfully froze Harvard University’s federal research funding, rebuking the administration’s weaponization of the federal government against institutions it perceives as ideological adversaries.
* In a sweeping opinion ([link removed]) , Judge Allison Burroughs called the Trump administration’s attack on Harvard a “targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
* “This ruling sends a clear message that academic institutions and other targets of this administration’s political retaliation are not powerless — they can, and must, stand up and fight back,” Chukwu said.”
* We’re suing ([link removed]) the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over its refusal to turn over records about Trump’s efforts to revoke the school’s nonprofit status.
* Last month, the administration attempted ([link removed]) to dismiss our lawsuit, erroneously arguing that all the records we’d sought — including phone logs, calendar invites, and more — would reveal confidential tax return information and were therefore protected from disclosure. We disagree.
* Read more here ([link removed]) about our ongoing case.



** On the Records
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Censorship in Schools

Since 2021, 24 states ([link removed]) have adopted educational gag orders that ban books that are unilaterally deemed “inappropriate” and restrict classroom discussions of race, gender, and sexuality. To illustrate how the implementation of so-called “divisive concept” laws denies students the opportunity to learn about diverse cultures, basic history, and common identities, we created a quiz ([link removed]) — based on the documents we obtained — that asks you to identify real examples of this censorship. Take the quiz here ([link removed]) !
* You can read more about the chilling effect of these laws — as well as how they threaten the foundational principles of public education and democracy — in our recent report, “The Far-Right Attack on Education: How Curriculum and Classroom Censorship Stifles Educators, Harms Students, and Threatens Our Democracy ([link removed]) .”



** Other Stories We’re Following
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Trump Administration Accountability
* D.C. attorney general sues Trump seeking halt to National Guard deployment (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Trump says he’s set to order federal intervention in Chicago and Baltimore, despite local opposition (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Trump administration demands state voter data, including partial Social Security numbers (CNN ([link removed]) )
* RFK Jr hints access to key abortion drug could be cut back (Guardian ([link removed]) )
* Trump advisers have discussed a job for Adams if he quits mayor’s race (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Trump family amasses $5 billion fortune after crypto launch (Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) )
* HHS employees demand RFK Jr. resign for ‘compromising the health of this nation’ (CNN ([link removed]) )
* DOJ drops charges against another client of AG Pam Bondi's brother Brad (ABC News ([link removed]) )
* Trump DOJ is looking at ways to ban transgender Americans from owning guns, sources say (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Senator’s visit to spy agency was canceled after Laura Loomer complained (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* White House orders agencies to escalate fight against offshore wind (New York Times ([link removed]) )


Voting Rights
* Trump administration blocks groups from voter registration at naturalization events (NPR ([link removed]) )
* Trump says he will sign executive order mandating voter ID (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Trump’s DOJ wants access to Missouri voting equipment used in 2020 election (Missouri Independent ([link removed]) )
* North Dakota tribes officially ask US Supreme Court to review redistricting case (North Dakota Monitor ([link removed]) )


In the States
* DeSantis administration pushes to eliminate all vaccine mandates in Florida (Florida Phoenix ([link removed]) )
* Maine Family Planning appeals ruling that upheld loss of $1.9M in Medicaid funding (Maine Morning Star ([link removed]) )
* Denver school district pushes back against Trump administration but hasn’t decided whether to change all-gender bathrooms (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Walters declines to show up for Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting (Oklahoma Voice ([link removed]) )
* Texas student groups sue to block state law that limits campus protests (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Texas passes bill banning abortion pills from being mailed to the state (19th News ([link removed]) )
* NY Attorney General sues far-right group VDARE for misusing funds (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Police agencies lower education standards as staffing shortages persist (Stateline ([link removed]) )


National News
* McIver faces forced GOP vote on censure, removal from panel (Axios ([link removed]) )
* AI is unmasking ICE officers. Can Washington do anything about it? (Politico ([link removed]) )
* House votes to establish a new committee to investigate Jan. 6 attack (Politico ([link removed]) )


Immigration
* Massive immigration raid at Hyundai megaplant in Georgia leads to 475 arrests. Most are Korean (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Agency handling green cards to hire armed agents who can arrest immigrants (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Appeals court blocks Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* ICE reactivates contract with previously banned spyware vendor (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Pentagon authorizes up to 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* December trial set for Milwaukee judge accused of helping man to evade arrest in courtroom (Associated Press ([link removed]) )


Threats to Education
* Students in the US illegally see college pathways close as Trump targets tuition breaks (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* How the Education Department is using civil rights laws to bring schools to heel (NPR ([link removed]) )
* Trump administration tells states to remove references to ‘gender ideology’ from sex ed materials (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Tennessee to remove certain phrases from sex ed material after federal demands (Nashville Tennessean ([link removed]) )
* Trump administration demands Ohio youth prisons ax gender identity language from sex ed (Columbus Dispatch ([link removed]) )

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