The governor, mayor, police and a congresswoman gathered in Albuquerque to ease fears after three Muslim men were shot and killed in a similar ambush attack over 10 days in 2022. 

The unusual show of unity after a string of violence was because of the belief the killings were targeted, and others were at risk. The government, at every level, used its power to catch a killer.

It was not until years later that an unsealed federal search warrant revealed the scope of an attempted government search into peoples’ cell phone data. 

GEOFENCE WARRANTS

Geofence search warrants attempt to identify people that were near the location of a crime by asking Google to turn over names of people that allow their devices to track and save the places they have visited.  

The federal government started asking Google for its “Location History” data almost 10 years ago. According to a 2022 Slate article, the first geofence warrant was filed in 2016 and has since increased exponentially.

After the murders of Aftab Hussein, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, and Naeem Hussein in Albuquerque, the FBI attempted to get Google to hand over data for devices in seven different areas, over nine hours, equaling more than 400 acres. One of the locations was the Islamic Center of New Mexico for three hours during a funeral of two of the murdered men. 

“THIS IS VERY TROUBLING”

“Uncomfortable and violated,” is how Abbas Akhil said he felt after finding out he was in one of the locations the government attempted to gather location history from Google.

“This is an egregious example of overreach and our rights to privacy,” said Akhil.

As the former president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, Akhil attended the funeral for the murder victims with about 1,000 other people. 

“So, is this a warranted a search?” Akhil said. “I’m not just talking as a minority or as an ethnic community, it applies to everybody. This is a national concern.” 

Google identified 3,100 devices associated with FBI search in Albuquerque. 

4 Investigates asked Alex Uballez, U.S. Attorney for New Mexico if this search was overly broad. 

“Not that we need everybody at that locations’ information, but who is the person at every one of these crimes that we think are linked together some way,” Uballez said. “In this case, we’re actively pursuing someone we believe could be an ongoing threat to others.” 

Uballez did not say that the search seeking cell phone data at a funeral went too far.   

“I think your concerns are real, I think your concerns are valid. But I think it’s worth taking a close look at the opinions and some of the language within those opinions in the fifth and fourth circuit,” said Uballez.

An issue cutting across political lines. 

The “circuit splits,” in the 4th and 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, opens the door to the U.S. Supreme Court to make a ruling on the Fourth Amendment implications on collecting location data from cell phone users. 

Uballez, a President Biden appointee, sees this issue similarly as his predecessor.  

“I don’t think that the federal government is out there surveilling people day-to-day without a nexus to a crime,” said John Anderson, a former U.S. Attorney and President Trump appointee. “But I do think, again, there are privacy implications when people are swept up in this kind of investigation.” 

Politically, both the far-right and far-left have opposed strengthening government’s powers of surveilling its own citizens, according to UNM law professor Joshua Kastenberg.

“It’s often the centrists, in both parties, who say ‘You know, we can’t have another 9/11, and we should trust the government to always do the right thing when it comes to surveilling and collecting data,’” said Kastenberg. “I think we should always be concerned about the government’s exercise of power.” 

Google never handed over the names associated with the 3,100 devices, as the government withdrew its request following the arrest of Muhammad Syed.

In the court filings, Google said Syed never had a device included among the thousands they had tracked for the FBI search. He was caught after police put out a picture of his car, and tips from the community led to his arrest. 

Google is making changes that could make wide sweeping geofence warrants impossible. The protection from unreasonable searches the Fourth Amendment assures us will likely be shaped by the U.S. Supreme Court as expectations to privacy evolve in the digital age.