ICE Is Creating A New Policy For Subpoenaing Reporters After Trying To Force BuzzFeed News To Turn O

[Jilly_in_VA]

ICE Is Creating A New Policy For Subpoenaing Reporters After Trying To Force BuzzFeed News To Turn Over Information

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are drafting a new policy that would force agents to get approval from senior leaders for any attempt to gain information from reporters through administrative subpoenas, officials told BuzzFeed News in a statement.

The development of a new policy comes more than a year after ICE issued an administrative subpoena during the Trump administration demanding BuzzFeed News identify its sources — an extraordinary attempt by the government to interfere with a news outlet acting under the protections of the First Amendment.

At the time, the move was met with criticism from media rights organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and even former ICE leaders, who called it a blatant overreach. The agency later backed down after BuzzFeed News published a story detailing the demand.

The new policy, which follows a congressional directive included as part of the most recent government funding bill, would make it so ICE personnel must elevate decisions about whether to issue administrative subpoenas to members of the news media to the “the most appropriate senior ICE official, such as the ICE Director.” The agency must also make sure that its employees know of this new policy through training. ICE officials will also have to provide congressional staffers with a copy of the policy and the associated training details within 90 days.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/ice-policy-subpoenaing-reporters