Lawsuit seeks to probe Uncle Sam's role in ICE-tracking app takedowns
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is suing two government departments to understand how they compelled tech companies to remove ICE-tracking apps and websites from their platforms.
It is bringing the case against the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to find out if they used illegal or unconstitutional methods to prevent the public from keeping tabs on immigration officers.
"We're filing this lawsuit to find out just what the government told tech companies," said F. Mario Trujillo, staff attorney at the EFF.
"Getting these records will be critical to determining whether federal officials crossed the line into unconstitutional coercion and censorship of protected speech."
According to the complaint [PDF] filed in San Francisco, the EFF first tried to gain access to the records via the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act route, but was unsuccessful, so it sought the courts' assistance.
It said it issued FOI requests to the DoJ, DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), seeking copies of any communications between the departments and Apple, Google, and Meta regarding the app takedowns.
Of those four departments, the suit claims only the CBP responded within the statutory deadline. It closed the case for not being specific enough when defining what communications the EFF wanted to be disclosed.
The digital rights group appealed against the decision in October and says it has not heard back since. The lawsuit filed on Thursday demands the release of all the relevant records, citing potential First Amendment violations.
Apple, Google, and Meta all took action to remove apps and websites devoted to informing local communities about when and where ICE agents were spotted.
Apple removed ICEBlock from its App Store in early October, citing information received from law enforcement about the app's safety risks.
Attorney general Pam Bondi said at the time: "ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed."
Her comments followed allegations that the app was used by Joshua Jahn, the main suspect behind gunfire directed at an ICE center in Dallas, Texas.
Around the same time, Apple also removed the DeICER app, again citing law enforcement information as the reason, while the Chocolate Factory similarly took down Red Dot from the Play Store. Both apps offered similar functionality to ICEBlock.
The EFF said Meta also responded to alleged government directives to take down the ICE Sightings-Chicagoland Facebook page.
The group went on to highlight Bondi's social media post about Meta's takedown, which it claims suggests the government pressured the tech giant to take action.
"The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs," she said X.
"The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement." ®
