DHS Uses 1930s Customs Statute to Seek Canadian Critic’s Google Location Data

Context After the Minneapolis killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, a Canadian man posted criticism of the Trump administration online. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded by demanding his location, activity logs, and identifying information from Google. The man, who has not entered the United States in more than ten years, remains unnamed.

Key Facts - DHS filed a customs summons, a legal tool designed to verify import entries and duty compliance, to obtain the data. The statute explicitly limits requests to records related to customs duties, taxes, and fees. - Lawyers for the man argue the agency is exploiting the fact that Google’s servers are U.S.-based to reach information that would otherwise be outside DHS jurisdiction. Michael Perloff of the ACLU says the government is using “that geographic fact to get information that otherwise would be totally outside of its jurisdiction.” - Former customs counsel Chris Duncan notes the law was never intended for personal location tracking, describing it as “records and testimony about the correctness of an entry.” - DHS and Google have not commented on the request.

What It Means The lawsuit alleges DHS violated the customs law by repurposing it to chase a foreign resident’s movements. If the court limits DHS to the statute’s original scope, the agency may lose a shortcut for accessing data held by U.S.-based tech firms. The case could set precedent on how far federal agencies can stretch legacy statutes to reach digital footprints.

Looking Ahead Watch for the court’s ruling on the summons, which could reshape the balance between national‑security inquiries and the geographic limits of U.S. law in the digital age.