Washington, D.C. — Yesterday evening, the House passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA) after unrelenting bipartisan advocacy to stem abuses of a loophole that has targeted all Americans—including Muslims using prayer and dating apps, women seeking reproductive care and Black activists organizing for police accountability. FANFSA would prevent government agencies, including law enforcement, from purchasing the data of people in the U.S. from data brokers in the commercial marketplace.

While advocates applaud the passage of this key reform, the House has closed one loophole while separately opening another one through The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), which could be voted on as early as today in the Senate. This bill, which has been dubbed Patriot Act 2.0, would give the federal government unprecedented surveillance powers. Not only would it allow the federal government to secretly force Americans and businesses to engage in warrantless spying on its behalf, the bill would unnecessarily create extreme vetting procedures ensnaring millions of immigrant residents and their families, employers, students and community members in the U.S. and abroad for suspicionless searches.

Below is a statement from Muslim Advocates Senior Policy Counsel Sumayyah Waheed: 

“Muslim communities—particularly Black Muslims—in the U.S. have firsthand experience with pervasive surveillance. With the help of unscrupulous data brokers who sell our most private details to the highest bidder, we have been targeted, tracked, put on lists and harassed by law enforcement. The passage of FANSFA is a major win for Americans’ digital privacy. We thank Reps. Nadler, Jayapal, Davidson and their House colleagues and we urge senators to swiftly pass FANSFA.

However, Congress has closed one loophole only to potentially create new ones with Patriot Act 2.0. We urge the Senate in the strongest terms possible to oppose expanding any warrantless, suspicionless domestic spying of people in the U.S.”

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Muslim Advocates is a national social-justice, legal-advocacy, and educational organization that works with and for Muslim and other historically marginalized communities to build community power, fight systemic oppression, and demand shared well-being.