Researchers Against Surveillance is a left-of-center pressure campaign, created as part of the larger No Tech for ICE campaign, which is a project of left-of-center immigration group Mijente. ¹

Researchers Against Surveillance’s campaign puts pressure on Thomson Reuters and RELX/LexisNexis to cancel data services contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the government agency that enforces immigration laws and deports illegal immigrants. ^{2 3}

Associations

The Researchers Against Surveillance campaign is associated with several groups in its opposition to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s activities, including Law Students Against ICE, the National Lawyers Guild, No Tech for ICE, Mijente, and the Immigration Defense Project. All these organizations and campaigns have signed the “Drop Your Contracts!” petition. ²

Law Students Against ICE is a corporate pressure campaign, similar to No Tech for ICE and the Researchers Against Surveillance campaign. Law Students Against ICE claims to be a national association of law students opposed to ICE. The group has called for “both Thomson Reuters (Westlaw) and RELX (LexisNexis) to end their contracts with ICE.” ⁴

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), whose “NLG student chapters make up the base of the Law Students Against ICE backbone,” is a radical-left group of attorneys and law students that has worked with radical-leftist groups and political organizations throughout its history. ^{5 6}

According to its website, No Tech for ICE is a campaign of Mijente, a “digital and grassroots hub for Latinx & Chicanx movement building & organizing.” ⁷ The Mijente Support Committee is the fundraising arm financially supporting the related Mijente organization. In 2022, the Mijente Support Committee had revenues of $4,869,441 and assets of $11,329,496. Major donors of the Mijente Support Committee include the Tides Foundation, which gave two donations of $600,000 each to the Mijente Support Committee in 2022, and the Foundation for a Just Society, which gave $325,000 in 2022. ⁸ Mijente had revenues of $2,951,764 and assets of $4,320,282 in 2022. ⁹

The Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), a co-signatory of the “Drop Your Contracts!” petition against ICE, is a left-of-center advocacy group focused on immigration issues, such as the deportation of illegal immigrants, and litigation related to ICE raids. ¹⁰ The Immigration Defense Project is fiscally sponsored by the Fund for the City of New York Inc, a 501(c)(3) with revenues of $114,215,839 and assets of $170,389,317 in 2022. ^{11 12}

“Drop Your Contracts!” Petition

Researchers Against Surveillance has signed the “Drop Your Contracts!” petition, along with the Immigration Defense Project and Law Students Against ICE, as part of the No Tech For ICE campaign, operated by Mijente. The petition claims there have been “human rights abuses” conducted by ICE aided by technological services provided by Thomson Reuters (parent company to Westlaw) and RELX plc (parent company to LexisNexis). It further opposes the alleged “violently racist immigration system” and claims the companies are “fueling the surveillance, imprisonment, and deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year.” ^{5 2}

1.  “Take Back Tech.” #NoTechForICE. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://notechforice.com/.
2. “Reuters & Relx – Drop Your Ice Contracts!” #NoTechForICE. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://notechforice.com/lawletter/.
3. “Ice.” ICE. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.ice.gov/.
4. “No Contracts for Ice.” No Contracts for ICE. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://nocontractsforice.org/.
5. Nathanson, Anna. “Law Students Against ICE Takes on Westlaw & LexisNexis Data Contracts.” Guild Notes. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.nlg.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Guild-Notes-Fall-Winter-2019-WEB.pdf.
6. “Report on the National Lawyers Guild: Legal Bulwark of the Communist Party.” Committee on Un-American Activities, U.S. House of Representatives. September 17, 1950. Page 1.
7. “About.” #NoTechForICE. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://notechforice.com/about/.
8. “Mijente Support Committee.” Cause IQ. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/mijente-support-committee,821711382/.
9. “Mijente.” Cause IQ. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/mijente,813459266/.
10. “About Immigrant Defense Project.” Immigrant Defense Project. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/about/.
11. “Donate to the Immigrant Defense Project.” Immigrant Defense Project. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/donate/.
12. “Fund for the City of New York (FCNY).” Cause IQ. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/fund-for-the-city-of-new-york,132612524/.