Government surveillance of Americans has been prominent since the passage of the Patriot Act over two decades ago. This controversial law was meant to prevent terrorism by allowing the U.S. government to expand its surveillance abilities, thus stripping Americans of their right to privacy. This invasive law, however, has become much more tyrannical under President Donald Trump’s administration. Under his authority, Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to hire contractors to surveil and spy on social media sites 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
ICE’s initiative abuses the Patriot Act, allowing surveillance companies to spy on Americans. Although the Patriot Act was established to reduce terrorism, it is now being used as a weapon against the American people. Since this law can be used to collect information about people without a warrant, the Trump administration is allowed to track down immigrants legally, regardless of how immoral it is. This plan by ICE reflects despotism rather than democracy.
Within Trump’s surveillance agenda, ICE will now monitor major social media sites such as Instagram, X and TikTok around the clock. Americans have always used social media to exercise their First Amendment rights, but this aggressive plan will prevent many from doing so. Although this intentional monitoring is done to detain and deport immigrants, anyone can become a target. As this initiative becomes active, Americans are going to shy away from their constitutional freedom of speech. If people are too scared to express themselves, they simply will not.
This use of the Patriot Act also infringes on the rights listed in the Fourth Amendment, which states that the American people are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Patriot Act has been infamously controversial due to this amendment, but concern was balanced since this act was used in the past to prevent terrorism. However, that does not seem to be the case anymore. The government is now using the Patriot Act to assist with a massive deportation effort that will strip families apart while killing America’s productivity level. Sadly, this extreme violation of rights will eliminate the little remaining trust that the American people have in their government.
