The New York Times Gift Article: “Experts say the new policy, which ditches software that automatically captured text messages, opens ample room for both willful and unwitting noncompliance with federal records laws. The Department of Homeland Security has stopped using software that automatically captured text messages and saved trails of communication between officials, according to sworn court statements filed this week. Instead, the agency began in April to require officials to manually take screenshots of their messages to comply with federal records laws, citing cybersecurity concerns with the autosave software. Public records experts say the new record-keeping policy opens ample room for both willful and unwitting noncompliance with federal open records laws in an administration that has already shown a lack of interest in, or willingness to skirt, records laws. That development could be particularly troubling as the department executes President Trump’s aggressive agenda of mass deportations, a campaign that has included numerous accusations of misconduct by law enforcement officials, the experts said.

“If you are an immigration official or an agent and believe that the public might later criticize you, or that your records could help you be held accountable, would you go out of the way to preserve those records that might expose wrongdoing?” said Lauren Harper, who advocates government transparency at the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

The Department of Homeland Security includes key immigration agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. The department did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. But on Friday, after publication of this article, it said in an emailed statement that the application the agency had stopped using “was not the exclusive means of preserving text data,” but did not elaborate on why it had opted for manual record-keeping. The department has maintained and will continue to maintain records of phone data, including text messages, the statement added, reiterating what department officials had said in a court statement filed on Wednesday…”