An antifa legal group, in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union, is trying to prevent Meta from fulfilling a federal subpoena that would unmask the militants behind an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement surveillance site.

The Civil Liberties Defense Center, an Oregon law firm dedicated to “defending front-line activists,” filed a motion Tuesday to quash the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s subpoena seeking user data from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, as part of a criminal investigation concerning “officer safety/doxing.”

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CLDC is representing one of six suspects identified in the subpoena as a co-operator of StopIce.net, an online subscription-based alert system that tracks the whereabouts of ICE agents nationwide.

Using anonymous crowd-sourced reports, the monitoring software sends out real-time notifications of nearby ICE sightings within a certain-mile radius.

These minute-by-minute alerts list the geolocation of immigration officers pinpointed on Google Maps, descriptions of agents’ clothing and the kind of car they were spotted driving, and their license plates with accompanying pictures, among other identifying information.

StopIce additionally dispatches regional rapid-response cells to serve as “boots on the ground.” Once enlisted in the StopIce network, local units conduct “community patrols” and respond accordingly to reported ICE activity.

To date, StopIce has amassed almost 500,000 subscribers across the country and raised more than $30,000 on GoFundMe to finance the site’s development, including increased security protocols. The custom-built encrypted platform is advertised to ensure the full anonymity of its users.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT ICE TRACKING APPS

Earlier this month, Homeland Security sent a subpoena ordering Meta to turn over all subscriber names, email addresses, and telephone numbers associated with the website’s Instagram account @StopIceNet.

In response, CLDC and the ACLU’s Northern California chapter challenged the subpoena on First Amendment grounds, arguing in separate court cases that their clients’ operations are a form of constitutionally protected free speech.

“[A]nonymous actors engaged in protected political speech possess a First Amendment right to remain anonymous,” says CLDC’s suit, particularly “rights to anonymous speech and association.”

DEMOCRATIC RHETORIC JUSTIFIES ICE AGENT MASKS

“I am haunted by the possibility that the government will find out who I am using this subpoena,” one of ACLU Northern California’s clients, proceeding pseudonymously as “John Doe,” said in a declaration submitted to the court.

According to a press release, CLDC partnered with the ACLU of Northern California to help each of the six suspects cited in the subpoena find representation through their “legal networks.”

CLDC, which is bankrolled by the Soros-backed Tides Center, says it “supports the struggle,” namely movements that “seek to dismantle the political and economic structures at the root of social inequality.”

In recent years, CLDC has represented a number of antifa clients, including two Rose City antifa militants who investigative journalist Andy Ngo sued for brutally assaulting him on the streets of Portland. The 2019 mob-style attack left him hospitalized with a bleeding brain.

In 2019, CLDC honored “in memoriam” school shooter Charlie Landeros, a known “non-binary” antifa activist. Most recently, CLDC called President Donald Trump’s executive order designating antifa as a domestic terrorist organization “B.S.” and claimed that the “majority of Americans hold antifascist political beliefs.”

As for the contested subpoena, Judge Thomas X. Hixson, a Kamala Harris donor, has since issued a temporary stay. This means Meta is under court order not to hand over the requested records to DHS until the matter is adjudicated.

According to company policy, Meta may independently push back on government requests if the tech giant decides that a subpoena is “not consistent with applicable law or our policies.”

“If the request is unlawful (for example, overly broad, or legally deficient in any way), we will challenge or reject the request,” Meta’s frequently-asked-questions page says. “We encourage governmental agencies to submit only requests that are necessary, proportionate, specific, and strictly compliant with applicable laws, by publishing guidelines for government requests.”

The Washington Examiner contacted CLDC, ACLU Northern California, Meta, and DHS for comment.

DHS subpoenaing Meta comes after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem promised to pursue anyone involved in doxing efforts against ICE officers after the names, pictures, and personal addresses of agents were published.

“We will prosecute those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law. These criminals are taking the side of vicious cartels and human traffickers,” Noem said in a statement. “We won’t allow it in America.”

ANTIFA CALLS FOR FURTHER ATTACKS ON ICE FACILITIES

Authorities say the sniper who shot up a Dallas immigration detention center on Wednesday searched for similar ICE tracking apps, indicative of “pre-attack planning.” Investigators also allegedly obtained written notes left behind by the shooter, one of which read, “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror.”

Although relatively little is known about the suspect, his Facebook profile picture reportedly depicted an image of an armed communist captioned, “GLORIOUS EXPOSITION, COMRADE.”