Rep. Eshoo Leads Call To Halt Surveillance Of Peaceful Protesters

PALO ALTO, CA — Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto has co-led a letter from Congress Tuesday demanding that federal agencies stop all illegal surveillance of peaceful protesters across the United States.

Bobby Rush (D-IL) co-led the letter, which was signed by 35 members of congress.

The letter — addressed to the FBI, the National Guard Bureau, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Customs and Border Protection — was motivated by recent evidence and media reports indicating that the agencies made use of aircraft equipped with surveillance tools during protests that followed the death of unarmed black man George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

The call to halt illegal surveillance follows a report from Vice News’ Motherboard that identified high-tech surveillance aircraft the military and federal agencies used to monitor George Floyd protests in Minneapolis and Washington D.C., among others.

The equipment cited in the letter includes tools that can collect cellphone location data, "Stingrays" which have the ability to collect call, text and browsing data of nearby cellular devices, various facial recognition technology, automated license plate readers, and other surveillance technology.

In the letter, the representatives expressed "deep and profound concerns" over surveillance tactics that they said "are significantly chilling the First Amendment rights of Americans."

“The surveillance tactics of [the FBI, National Guard, DEA, and CBP] during the recent protests across the U.S. are significantly chilling the First Amendment rights of Americans. We demand that you cease any and all surveilling of Americans engaged in peaceful protests,” the letter reads.

“Americans should not have to take proactive measures to protect themselves from government surveillance before engaging in peaceful demonstration.”

Bay City News contributed to this report