This is just blatant intimidation. Same reason they arrested Don Lemon, knowing full well there's no legal justification.

Why you should not use a platform owned by billionaires who are sympathetic to the government.

How mind-numbingly idiotic the DHS can be?

Man sends email to DHS.

Agents later show up, show him the email he sent, and demand he present "his side of the story".

My dudes in idiocracy, WHAT THE ACTUAL LIVING FUCK DO YOU THINK THAT EMAIL WAS?

Let me help you out: that was "his side of the story".

Oh, wait a moment. They didn't show up to gather more information - because that's idiotic - but to threaten him with their mere presence, and deter any further emails...

Guy asks them to show some "decency," which is so horrific to them, they basically say "we're going to come for you too."

100% Nazi shit.

he emailed a lead prosecutor at the Department of Homeland Security, Joseph Dernbach, who was handling the deportation case of an Afghan refugee, identified as H, asking him to consider that the man’s life was in danger from the Taliban.

That was the content of the email. No threat. No crime. Just telling a prosecutor that he is creating irreputable harm to an individual.

Both Google and Meta received a record number of subpoenas in the United States during the first half of 2025 as Trump’s second term began, with Google receiving 28,622, a 15 percent increase over the previous six months.

Bad.

Later that day, Jon received an email from Google notifying him that an administrative subpoena had been sent to them from the Department of Homeland Security “compelling the release of information related to your Google Account.” Federal agencies can issue such subpoenas without an order from a judge or grand jury, and Google gave Jon, who withheld his last name to protect his family from the government, one week to challenge it.

Laws are supposed to restrict the use of administrative subpoenas, but DHS has used the tool against dissent protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution. Jon could not find who in the agency issued the subpoena, let alone a record of it to show an attorney.

Days later, DHS agents showed up at Jon’s door. A naturalized U.S. citizen originally from the U.K., Jon was worried about potential violence. The agents showed him a copy of the email and asked to see his side of the story. They didn’t know about the administrative subpoena but said they received orders to interview Jon by DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Eventually, the agents agreed that Jon had committed no crimes after he told them he found Dernbach’s email address through a simple Google search. Jon secured pro bono representation by ACLU attorneys, who argue that the government is violating a statute that limits how administrative subpoenas can be used for “immigration enforcement” and that the government targeted Jon for protected speech.

More fascism.

Party of freedom?

Remember. Everything, and I mean everything, conservatives say is a lie. Because everything fascists say is a lie.

Don't use Gmail.

…and that’s why I don’t host my email in the US or on US-owned servers. Fuck that!

if you're planning to do that, do it from a ip like from a library/coffee shop and use a different device or a public computer(university, or laptop from a library

Pleads for asylum for a persecuted refugee

DHS: “And I took that personally”

That was not criticism.

Polite request to act with decency... domestic terrorist for sure.

Long term there is a solution to this problem. Hang with me on this, what if one never used any google, nor any meta products? I know, sounds... entirely possible and really a completely good idea for a host of reasons, but do you think it would work? By the way this is also Yay Fediverse Day! I just declared it to be so, and this is 2026, so it must be true.