Fight for the Future

Statement: Rep. Meeks voting for a clean FISA reauthorization is disrespectful & dangerous

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 14, 2026 Email: press@fightforthefuture.org Phone: 978-852-6457 As Rep. Meeks (D-NY) stands up for a clean FISA reauthorization to preserve the data broker loophole that allows warrantless spying on everyone in the US’s digital communications, Fight for the Future, STOP Spying NYC, and Access Now have issued the following joint statement: “If the heat of the glares aimed at Rep. Meeks right now could melt him, he’d be dripping like a snowman on the pavement in July. No one in Queens wants everybody in the federal government to have total access to the intimate details of their lives with the tap of a mouse. Yet, Rep. Meeks has said as recently as Monday that he wants no restrictions on FISA enabling the build-out of the Trump administration’s blanket panopticon, which the admin is using not only for mass deportations, but also to create lists of enemies. Activists across the country are being added to threat lists based on AI analysis of their social media posts, their movements, what they read, who they follow, and their private communications—lists that may have prompted ICE to shoot one woman five times. Data brokers are selling ICE the facial recognition and home address data to show up the homes of legal observers and intimidate them for engaging in constitutionally protected activity. The data available without a warrant includes our everyday movements: our commute routes, when we are home alone, who we spend time with, when our children get home from school. More, FISA’s Section 702 also allows the government to collect communications between Americans and foreigners located abroad, without requiring a warrant or any due process. It is a total betrayal of the fourth amendment and the dignity of everyday people in this country to treat us all as if we are guilty until Big Brother Trump proves us innocent by watching our every move. And worse—it’s impossible to predict how these troves of records may be weaponized in the future against racial justice activists, trans and queer families, abortion patients and providers, anti-war activists, or anyone who acts out of step with MAGA. It’s supposed to be the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, not the Forever Indiscriminate Surveillance Act. Rep. Meeks’ colleagues are proposing real safeguards to protect people against this indiscriminate government surveillance. Rep. Meeks is not only rejecting these safeguards, he’s convincing his colleagues to give Trump and spy agencies blanket permission to violate the Fourth Amendment. He is not only failing his constituency, he is disrespecting them and putting them in danger. It’s not too late for Rep. Meeks to get on the right side of history.”