 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit to block an order by the U.S. government demanding that it reveal who is behind an account opposed to President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policies. The account, whose name stands for alternative U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the account describes itself as “immigration resistance.” Trump has vowed to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and has promised to deport millions of illegal immigrants. Following Trump’s inauguration in January, anonymous Twitter feeds that borrowed the names and logos of more than a dozen U.S. government agencies appeared to challenge the president’s views on climate change and other issues. According to Twitter’s suit, filed today in Northern California District Court, US Customs and Border Protection has attempted to use a “limited-purpose investigatory tool” to unmask the owner of the Twitter account “@ALT_uscis.” The account, one of several “alt” or “rogue” government accounts that appeared in the wake of Trump’s ascent to the presidency, was used “to express public criticism of the Department and the current Administration,” according to Twitter’s complaint. Twitter spokesman Nick Pacilio declined to comment on whether the government had demanded information about other accounts critical of Trump. "The rights of free speech afforded Twitter's users and Twitter itself under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution include a right to disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous political speech," Twitter said in the lawsuit. “a grave chilling effect on the speech of that account” 
 
 In addition to the Department of Homeland Security and its subagency, the lawsuit names four individuals as defendants: DHS secretary John Kelly, acting CBP commissioner Kevin McAleenan, and special agents Stephen P. Caruso and Adam Hoffman, who issued and served the order itself. Shortly after the lawsuit became public, @ALT_uscis tweeted a copy of the First Amendment and a picture of part of the lawsuit. In addition to criticizing the Trump administration, the @ALT_uscis account claimed to reveal improprieties with the CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
– Twitter has sued the federal government after US Customs and Border Protection demanded user information for an account critical of the Trump administration, the Verge reports. Multiple Twitter accounts claiming to be run by disillusioned members of various government agencies sprung up following Trump's inauguration. One of them, @ALT_uscis, claimed to be run by one or more federal immigration employees, according to Reuters. CNN reports @ALT_uscis regularly accuses ICE agents of impropriety, such as taking bribes. Last month, Twitter received a fax from CBP demanding the login information, phone number, and mailing address of the user behind the account. In its lawsuit, Twitter says it and its users have a First Amendment right to "disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous political speech." It claims releasing user information would have a "chilling effect" on other accounts critical of the government. The actual user behind @ALT_uscis is being represented by the ACLU, which says the government usually only asks for social media account information for a criminal matter or pressing national security concern. The CBP's request was based on a statute that mostly deal with taxes on the importation of goods. An attorney for the ACLU says the ability so speak anonymously against the government is a "bedrock American value." The government isn't commenting on the lawsuit.