HSI Identified More Than 185,000 Administrative Subpoenas Potentially Responsive to EFF's FOIA Request, Court Filing Shows; WIRED Reported It as Subpoenas Sent

Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative wing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, estimates it has sent out at least 185,000 administrative subpoenas since the start of the Trump administration, according to a recent court filing in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, WIRED reported. The EFF originally asked for information about how many administrative subpoenas were sent to technology companies, internet platforms, and service providers by ICE or DHS since January 20, 2025; it’s not clear if that count is just for administrative subpoenas sent to those types of companies or if it includes a much broader set. For comparison, a previous WIRED analysis found that in the more than six and a half years from the start of 2016 to mid-August 2022, ICE agents only sent out around 170,000 of a type of administrative subpoena called a 1509 customs summons.

The administration has argued in court that the customs power transferred to DHS reaches its “broad investigative portfolio.” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called the numbers “a dragnet domestic surveillance program” and said: “Next year, I plan to use the Senate Finance Committee gavel to get to the bottom of HSI’s unprecedented misuse of customs law to target Trump’s enemies.” ICE did not respond to questions about the increase. Related canon on DHS customs summonses: 2026-08-29–dhs-19-usc-1509-customs-summonses-journalists-unions-nonprofits-no-judicial-review, 2026-10-20–judge-trenga-quashes-hsi-immigration-subpoena-to-aamva-for-cdlis-records, 2026-10-28–eff-aclu-dc-netchoice-amicus-dc-circuit-grand-jury-subpoena-unmask-reddit-user-after-dhs-withdrew-own.

Update (2026-10-02, filing date): What the court filing says: 185,000 potentially responsive subpoenas, not a count of subpoenas sent

In a joint status report filed October 2, 2026, EFF and DHS and ICE, by and through counsel, relayed what HSI said on a September 14, 2026 call: that with respect to certain categories of administrative subpoenas, since January 20, 2025, it had identified more than 185,000 administrative subpoenas potentially responsive to EFF’s request, and more than 90,000 potentially responsive records of correspondence.