Provision in Trump EO Forces Agencies to Surrender Immigrants' Private Data Provided Under Obama

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Sec. 14. Privacy Act. Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, ensure that their privacy policies exclude persons who are not United States citizens or lawful permanent residents from the protections of the Privacy Act regarding personally identifiable information. - Executive Order: Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States

from WaPo:

A little-noticed provision in one of President Trump’s executive orders this week stripped federal privacy protections from many immigrants, raising fears among advocacy groups that information people willingly submitted to the federal government during the Obama administration could now be used to help deport them.

Trump’s move, in a wide-ranging order on immigration enforcement issued Wednesday, marks a break from a policy dating to the administration of George W. Bush that had extended some Privacy Act protections to immigrants who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. That included students, foreign workers, asylum seekers and undocumented people such as those known as “dreamers” who were brought to the United States as children.

The motive for the change remains unclear, and Trump has repeatedly sought to assure dreamers that he will treat them humanely. But the order removing privacy protections set off alarms among privacy and immigration advocates, who worry the move is a step toward aggressive new tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the past the agency, known as ICE, has bristled regarding federal privacy rules as applied to undocumented immigrants.

Rights advocates said they would be particularly troubled if data collected by the Obama administration with the goal of helping dreamers avoid deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program now could be used to target them and their families for this or other enforcement actions.

More than 700,000 people participate in DACA, giving them temporary protection from deportation. The application requires submission of extensive personal information, including addresses, phone numbers, travel histories and schools attended. A government website explaining the program says the information would be “protected” from ICE in most circumstances but notes that this policy could be changed “at any time.”

read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/a-little-noticed-move-by-trump-could-make-it-easier-to-deport-immigrants/2017/01/27/fd5734ec-e4cb-11e6-a453-19ec4b3d09ba_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.8f341d6c6ab5