SPLC Action Fund Responds to DHS Collecting Personal Information on People Deemed “Threatening” to Confederate Monuments

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — SPLC Action Fund Chief of Staff Lecia Brooks released the following statement in response to guidance aligned with President Trump’s executive order, which allows collection of personal information and monitoring of social media posts to protect Confederate symbols.

“President Trump continues to abuse the powers of the Executive Branch. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now being weaponized against communities seeking to remove Confederate monuments from their public spaces.

“The DHS was not created to be a president’s personal watchdog or used to infringe on citizens’ privacy and First Amendment rights.

“Protecting monuments and iconography that glorify traitors to the United States who fought to keep Black people enslaved reveal just how low President Trump will go to defend white supremacist culture.”

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The SPLC does not support erasing history, nor the defacing and/or destruction of any historic artifact. Learn about Confederate symbols on public land in the SPLC’s “Whose Heritage?” report.

In 2018, the SPLC released an updated version of its Whose Heritage? report, identifying nearly 1,800 Confederate monuments, parks, schools, state holidays and other symbols of the Confederacy in public spaces across the South and the nation.