The Intercept reports that Google has handed over large amounts of personal data about students and journalists to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to subpoenas that have not been approved by a judge.
The search and advertising technology giant provided ICE with an itemized list of services related to the username, address, and Google account of Amandla Thomas Johnson, a British student and journalist who briefly participated in pro-Palestinian protests in 2024 while attending Cornell University in New York.
Google also handed over Thomas Johnson’s IP address, phone number, subscriber number and identity information, as well as the credit card and bank account numbers associated with his account.
The subpoena reportedly included a gag order and did not include a specific justification for why ICE was requesting Thomas Johnson’s personal data, although the student previously said the request for the data came within two hours of being notified by Cornell University that the U.S. government had revoked his student visa.
This is the latest example of the U.S. government using a controversial type of legal request called an administrative subpoena to force technology companies to hand over personal data of individuals critical of the Trump administration. This includes anonymous Instagram accounts that share information about ICE detentions and raids, as well as people criticizing or protesting President Trump and his policies.
ICE and Google did not respond to requests for comment.
Administrative subpoenas are issued directly by federal agencies without the intervention of a judge. These legal demands cannot force companies to hand over the contents of an individual’s email account, online search, or location data, but they can request metadata and other identifying information, such as email addresses, to de-anonymize the owner of a particular online account.
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Unlike court orders, technology companies are not obligated to provide someone’s data after receiving an administrative subpoena.
Last week, digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation sent letters to Amazon, Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Reddit, demanding that they stop providing data to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, in response to administrative subpoenas.
“Based on our own contact with targeted users, we are deeply concerned about your company’s failure to challenge unlawful surveillance and protect user privacy and speech,” the letter said.
“We urge companies that receive such subpoenas to insist that DHS seek court confirmation that the request is not illegal or unconstitutional before the company discloses user information, and we urge them to notify their users of the request for information with a meaningful time to challenge the subpoena themselves.”
“We need to think hard about what resistance looks like in a situation like this, where governments and big tech companies know us and can track us, imprison us, and destroy us in many ways,” Thomas Johnson told The Intercept.
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