Lawyers for a Syracuse woman are suing the federal government for information about why she was warned that her social media post may have been a federal crime.
On Primary Day this year, in June, two federal immigration agents walked into a polling station in Syracuse. They gave poll worker Paigelynne Gonyea a letter and a warning – her social media post from January about the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE agent could get her arrested.
But the question is: Which post?
Gonyea posted within hours of reading news reports that named the ICE agent who shot Renee Good, saying today would be a good day for accountability for that agent, who she named.
But later, a federal spokesperson gave the Associated Press a screenshot of a post allegedly from Gonyea’s Instagram account, giving the agent’s name and address. Gonyea says she didn’t remember posting anything like that, searched her account and couldn’t find the post.
The letter and verbal warning said she had outed the agent’s personal details, putting him at risk.
The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a Freedom of Information request asking for, among other things, proof that the post had come from Gonyea’s account. They waited more than a month for the information and when it didn’t arrive, they sued.
“We would like to see the agencies produce the documents that we've asked for in a timely way,” said Perry Grossman, attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union. “I have serious questions about the provenance of the screenshot. I have not found any evidence to indicate that that screenshot is authentic. And so, if it is, DHS or ICE or whoever should produce the documents that show that it's authentic.”
A government spokesperson accused Gonyea of committing a serious federal crime, though, to date, no criminal charges have been filed against her.
Grossman says that even if the name and address post proves to be real, it’s still speech protected by the Constitution. He says that if the government can’t prove it’s real, though, that’s the basis of a very different kind of investigation.
It’s hard to sue the government over policing issues and Grossman says they’ll wait to see what’s in the documents they’ve requested before making any plans for next steps.
