Still eyeing mass deportations, hard-liners push White House to expand targets
www.csmonitor.com

... The Trump administration is signaling a shift in immigration enforcement to more workplace arrests as hard-liners in the president's base push him to begin a second, broader phase of his promised mass deportations.

Some inside the White House have reportedly urged less talk of mass deportations ahead of the congressional midterms, as Americans express dissatisfaction with the high-profile immigration arrest tactics in the heartland. But a network of Trump allies says the administration will not achieve its deportation goals without pursuing a much larger pool of targets.

Following the confirmation of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last month, the coalition is pitching a reset away from a stated goal of deporting the "worst of the worst" to "populations that are easier to remove," such as immigrants with final orders of removal and those who have overstayed their visas. Policies such as worksite enforcement will be key, the group's plan says, raising the risk of the pushback seen after earlier workplace raids. ...

Report: US demands Reddit unmask ICE critic, summons firm to grand jury
arstechnica.com

... The Trump administration has stepped up an effort to unmask a Reddit user who criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After failing to obtain information through a summons issued to Reddit, the government reportedly issued a subpoena demanding that Reddit provide the information and appear before a grand jury in Washington, DC.

The Intercept described the subpoena today. "According to a subpoena obtained by The Intercept, Reddit has until April 14 to provide a wide range of personal data on one of its users, whom US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been trying unsuccessfully to identify for more than a month," the article said.

The legal saga began in US District Court for the Northern District of California. On March 12, the anonymous Reddit user whose information is being sought filed a motion to quash a summons seeking a host of information from Reddit. The summons was issued by the Department of Homeland Security and directed Reddit to turn information over to an ICE senior special agent.

The summons cited authority under 19 U.S. Code 1509, which is part of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. The motion to quash said the summons is not authorized by the law, which deals with imports of boats, alcoholic drinks, and animals, among other things.

"J. Doe is a US citizen who has not traveled out of the country, is not engaged in any international commerce, has no business concerns outside the United States, and primarily uses their Reddit account to engage in political speech relevant to their local community," said the filing by the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), which represents the Reddit user. "Yet the government claims the right to obtain Doe's name, telephone number, home address, banking and credit card information, IP addresses, telephone model number(s), and the names of any other accounts associated with their Reddit account.

The information sought by the government in no way pertains to customs or importing or exporting merchandise, and is clearly intended to chill free speech." ...