First Amendment

ICE Is Determined To Unmask a Reddit User Whose Only Crime Seems To Be Criticizing ICE

After withdrawing a summons in the face of a legal challenge, the government is seeking a grand jury subpoena.

Jacob Sullum | 4.15.2026 4:00 PM

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is trying to unmask an anonymous Reddit user whose only crime seems to be criticizing the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is part of DHS, withdrew an administrative subpoena demanding information about the Reddit account "Tired_Thumb" after facing a legal challenge in the Northern District of California, where Reddit is headquartered. But as The Intercept reported last week, federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., now seem intent on obtaining information about the ICE critic from Reddit via a grand jury subpoena.

"Government critics are not suspects and free speech is not a crime," says Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). "The First Amendment protects our right to criticize the government anonymously—an American tradition that dates back to the founding. So far, the government hasn't been able to point to a single Reddit post [by Tired_Thumb] that's not protected by the First Amendment. Not one. By putting the administration's feelings above the First Amendment, government agents are sending a deliberate message to each of us: Don't criticize us—or else."

On March 6, Reddit notified the user associated with Tired_Thumb, identified as "J. Doe" in court documents, that it had received a "legal request" for information about the account, including Doe's name, address, phone number, length of service, and I.P. addresses. Doe, who lives in Oregon, sought help from the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), which is based in Eugene, in challenging what an ICE agent described as a summons issued under 19 USC 1509, which deals with customs enforcement.

As CLDC attorney Matthew Kellebrew noted in a March 12 motion to quash the summons, that supposed authority is inapplicable in this case. "The statute stops far short of conferring generalized authority to obtain records of any kind beyond the scope of those related to merchandise duties, taxes, or fees," Kellebrew wrote. "Here, there is no plausible nexus between the documents sought and those permissible by statute. J. Doe is a U.S. citizen who has not traveled outside the country, is not engaged in any international commerce, has no business concerns outside the United States, and primarily uses their Reddit account to engage in political speech relevant to their local........

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