OpenTheGovernment has joined a coalition of government accountability, privacy, and civil liberties organizations expressing concern over the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposal to collect and store social media information for individuals’ visa and immigration records.

Updated: October 13, 2017 - Today, OpenTheGovernment joined a coalition of government accountability, privacy, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, in calling on Congress to strengthen the surveillance reform bill introduced by the House Judiciary Committee last week.

September 13, 2017 -- Members of the House Judiciary Committee are fast-tracking legislation this week that risks expanding secretive immigration enforcement practices and increasing the government’s reliance on unreliable databases. The Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act (H.R.

Updated, October 6, 2017 -- Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) reintroduced the Stop Militarizing Our Law Enforcement Act (S. 1856) to establish limitations and create greater transparency on the federal transfer of surplus military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies.  

Updated: October 18, 2017

Please read and share our one-pagers:
The Border Security for America Act (H.R.3548)
The Building America's Trust Act (S.1757) 

A new report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reveals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is increasingly concealing information that was previously released to the public in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The report describes efforts by ICE to block access to information on immigration enforcement cooperation between federal and non-federal law enforcement agencies, exposing possible violations of the agency’s FOIA obligations.

Today, a broad coalition of over 70 public interest organizations sent a letter to the Attorney General expressing concern over the Justice Department’s demand for information associated with a protest-organizing website.

So far, the Trump Administration has shown a willingness to accelerate the use of military force overseas, while continuing and sometimes expanding on the excessive secrecy of its predecessors.  As the number of civilian casualties from U.S. strikes grows at a shocking pace, government transparency and Congressional oversight may be the surest way to advance accountability in U.S. use of military force.

In the latest threat to individuals’ right to privacy, the FBI will no longer be required to inform you if your photographs, fingerprints, iris scans, and other records are being stored in the government’s largest existing biometrics database – the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) system. Last year, OpenTheGovernment and our partners submitted comments to the Department of Justice

Today, a coalition of organizations committed to government openness and accountability, civil liberties, human rights, and civil rights, is calling on Congress to support legislation demanding greater transparency from private prisons that contract with the federal government.