SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
fight for the future
Coalition Urges Congress to Block All Funding for ICE 'Surveillance Panopticon'
"Milquetoast calls for better identification, bodycams, and training fall far short of what is required of you to meet this moment."
Jan 20, 2026
A broad coalition of organizations is calling on the US Congress to block funding for the mass surveillance programs being used by federal immigration enforcement officials.
In a letter sent to members of Congress, the groups decry US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for "leveraging a multi-billion dollar budget to terrorize our communities and build a surveillance panopticon" with no accountability from elected officials.
The letter then singles out several mass surveillance projects being carried out under the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that it says are worthy of defunding, including "building databases of biometrics, sensitive personal data, and daily movements of not only immigrants, but everybody in the US"; "purchasing technology to surveil all the phones in a neighborhood without a warrant"; and "recklessly relying on facial recognition technology that is banned in some states, and misusing that data to intimidate protesters and witnesses."
The groups call on Congress to completely defund ICE or, if that is not politically feasible, to "severely restrict what ICE can spend money on, including a complete moratorium on the purchase and use of surveillance tech" such as facial recognition and license plate readers.
"We urge you to do everything within your power in order to block ICE’s reign of terror in our communities and halt the build out of surveillance tech infrastructure that will make it impossible for everyday people to do anything at all without Big Brother watching," the groups conclude. "Milquetoast calls for better identification, bodycams, and training fall far short of what is required of you to meet this moment."
Signatories of the letter include the Yale Privacy Lab, digital rights organization Fight for the Future, and several local chapters of progressive political organizing group Indivisible.
ICE's big investments in surveillance technology were documented in an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) report published earlier this month, which found ICE "is going on a shopping spree, creating one of the largest, most comprehensive domestic surveillance machines in history."
The EFF report highlighted the role played by Cellebrite, a company that helps ICE unlock protesters' phones and "take a complete image of all the data on the phone, including apps, location history, photos, notes, call records, text messages, and even Signal and WhatsApp messages."
This is particularly important, the report noted, because the number of phones searched by ICE and other agencies has been steadily increasing, hitting a record high last year.
ICE also has a contract with Paragon, the company behind the spyware Graphite that "is able to harvest messages from multiple different encrypted chat apps such as Signal and WhatsApp without the user ever knowing."
Keep ReadingShow Less
GOP Advances 'Nonprofit Killer' Provision in Budget Bill to 'Crush Dissent'
"This measure would undoubtedly be weaponized by a White House with a track record of attacks against any speech that displeases our authoritarian president," warned one critic.
May 14, 2025
Free press, civil liberties, and community groups on Wednesday sounded the alarm after House Republicans added a provision in their budget reconciliation package that would empower U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit the executive branch deems supportive of a terrorist organization.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines to advance Republicans' reconciliation bill, which contains an amendment based on the language of the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, or H.R. 9495.
The ACLU warned Tuesday that the provision—dubbed the "nonprofit killer" by critics—would grant the executive branch the power to "effectively shut down" entities including independent media like Common Dreams, universities, religious institutions, political organizations, advocacy groups, and charities under the guise of combating terrorism. The contentious language was buried on page 380 of the reconciliation bill prior to its markup.
"No president should have the right to destroy nonprofits for no reason."
More than 200 groups collectively condemned the proposal in a Wednesday statement, warning, "Charities that feed the hungry, churches and faith communities that comfort the grieving, veterans' groups that care for our heroes, and countless other service providing organizations are at risk today because of this legislation."
"Nonprofits are on the frontlines of meeting every community need," the coalition continued. "Whether it's an organization providing healthcare in a disaster, a small rural church, or a local food bank, no organization is safe if this becomes law."
H.R. 9495 was first introduced in the previous Congress but failed to receive a Senate vote before the legislative term expired last year. It allows the treasury secretary "to accuse any nonprofit of supporting terrorism—and to terminate its tax-exempt status without due process," the advocacy group Free Press Action explained in statement, warning the ostensibly anti-terror provision would be used to "crush dissent."
Civil liberties groups say its lack of clarity regarding the determination of whether or how a nonprofit supports terrorism would enable Trump to follow through on his threats to cancel the tax-exempt status for organizations he does not like.
"Today, the legislation formerly known as H.R. 9495 has returned to wreak havoc against dissenting voices across the country's nonprofit sector," Free Press Action advocacy director Jenna Ruddock said Wednesday.
"Like too many other overbroad and easily abused powers, this measure would undoubtedly be weaponized by a White House with a track record of attacks against any speech that displeases our authoritarian president," Ruddock continued.
"The bill would have a widespread chilling effect not only on nonprofit groups but on the millions of people across the United States who rely on these organizations to help them access crucial services and engage in the political process," she added.
"We've already seen the Trump administration falsely conflate students protesting in support of Palestinian rights with Hamas, deport immigrants to a [Salvadoran] prison without due process, and detain students thousands of miles away from their loved ones for criticizing U.S. foreign policy," ACLU senior policy counsel Kia Hamadanchy said Tuesday.
"It is not a stretch to imagine how this bill could be used to pressure universities to shut down student groups, scare human rights organizations away from working with vulnerable communities, and further stifle dissent in this country," Hamadanchy added.
Ruddock of Free Press Action said that "it's not hard to imagine how the Trump administration would use [the bill] to exact revenge on groups that have raised questions about or simply angered the president and other officials in his orbit."
Lia Holland, campaigns and communications director at the digital rights group Fight for the Future, called the proposal "a five-alarm fire for nonprofits nationwide."
"This is a First Amendment issue—no president should have the right to destroy nonprofits for no reason," Holland added.
While the provision's proponents argue it is necessary to crack down on nonprofits that raise money to fund terrorism, Holland said that is "a bald-faced lie, as there are already laws that prohibit and punish such activities without taking away our civil liberties."
Ruddock warned: "Chilling free speech doesn't keep Americans safe. Instead, it gives an authoritarian regime another tool to violate the rights that form the foundation of a healthy democracy."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'We Need Calls Now!' Republicans Slip Nonprofit Killer Bill Into Tax Package
"If Democrats capitulate to the wanton destruction of crucial civil society institutions, they had better expect civil society to burn them to the ground for that betrayal."
May 13, 2025
House Republicans on Monday quietly revived a proposal that would grant the Trump administration broad authority to crush nonprofits it views as part of the political opposition, from environmental justice organizations to news outlets.
Fight for the Future and other advocacy groups called attention to the measure, which was buried in the final pages of the House Ways and Means Committee's draft reconciliation bill, starting on page 380.
A markup hearing for the legislation is scheduled to take place on Tuesday at 2:30 pm ET.
The proposal would empower the U.S. Treasury Department to revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofits deemed material supporters of terrorism, with only a hollow simulacrum of due process for the accused organizations. It is already illegal for nonprofits to provide material support for terrorism.
"The House is about to hand the Trump administration the ability to strip nonprofits of their 501(c)3 status without any reason or recourse. This is a five-alarm fire for nonprofits nationwide," said Lia Holland, campaigns and communications director at Fight for the Future. "If the text of last autumn's H.R. 9495 is passed in the budget, any organization with goals that do not line up with MAGA can be destroyed with a wink from Trump to the Treasury."
The measure passed the Republican-controlled House late last year with the support of more than a dozen Democrats, but it never received a vote in the Senate.
"This terribly thought-out legislation means that under the current administration, every environmental, racial justice, LGBTQ+, gender justice, immigration justice, and—particularly—any anti-genocide organization throughout the country may be on the chopping block," said Holland. "If Democrats capitulate to the wanton destruction of crucial civil society institutions, they had better expect civil society to burn them to the ground for that betrayal."
WE NEED CALLS NOW! HR 9495, now known as Section 112209, if passed, would give the Trump administration unprecedented power in suppressing nonprofits, by allowing the administration the power to strip organizations of their tax exempt status! Call 319-313-7674
[image or embed]
— Fight for the Future (@fightforthefuture.org) May 12, 2025 at 7:53 PM
The GOP's renewed push for what opponents have called the "nonprofit killer bill" comes as the Trump administration wages war on nonprofit organizations, threatening to strip them of their tax-exempt status as part of a sweeping attack on the president's political opponents.
"In the months since inauguration, Trump and his Cabinet have found other means of cracking down on political speech—particularly speech in favor of Palestinians—by deporting student activists and revoking hundreds of student visas. He has already threatened to attempt to revoke the tax-exempt status of Harvard University, part of his larger quest to discipline and punish colleges," journalist Noah Hurowitz wrote for The Intercept late Monday.
"But the nonprofit clause of the tax bill would give the president wider power to go after organizations that stand in his way," Hurowitz added.
Robert McCaw, government affairs director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Monday that "this provision is the latest in a growing wave of legislative attacks on constitutional rights."
"CAIR is urging every member of the Ways and Means Committee to VOTE NO on the inclusion of this provision and to support an expected amendment to strike the language," the group said in a statement. "Three Democratic members of the committee—Reps. Brad Schneider (Ill.), Tom Suozzi (N.Y.), and Jimmy Panetta (Calif.)—previously voted in favor of the Nonprofit Killer Bill on the House floor last year. They must reverse course and vote to oppose it in committee."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular