This is a critical moment to shut down one of the worst parts of the Patriot Act and stop Trump or any other government official from conducting unlawful, intrusive, and racist government surveillance.

Section 215 is a provision of the Patriot Act that allows the government to collect an astonishing amount of our personal information, without ever needing a warrant or suspicion of a crime. Although it was passed in the aftermath of September 11th, Section 215 has never proven to be effective at preventing terrorist attacks. When Edward Snowden made his revelations, the most egregious and damning news was that Section 215 of the Patriot Act was being used to spy on essentially all Americans by collecting records of who you called — also known as "metadata".

While millions of people have been spied on under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, we're not all being surveilled equally. 

The government wrongfully spies on communities of color and immigrants more than others. For example, the FBI's recent designation of "Black Identity Extremists" as domestic terrorists has allowed the Trump administration to justify spying on Black Lives Matter activists. In the context of Section 215, people who communicate with family and friends overseas are particularly exposed, which feeds the oppression immigrants and Muslim communities experience in this country.

We cannot let Trump have the legal authority to conduct this surveillance. Tell Congress: it's time to shut down Section 215 of the Patriot Act!