Apple Takes Down ICE Tracking Apps Amid Trump Pressure Campaign
Trump administration officials have issued several legal threats over ICEBlock, a popular app that allows users to alert others to the presence of nearby immigration agents.
nytimes.com
Apple has removed from its App Store several programs that alert users to sightings of immigration agents amid a furious pushback from the Trump administration over the services.
Most prominently, ICEBlock, a free app with hundreds of thousands of users, was no longer available as of Thursday evening to download on the App Store. ICEBlock allows people to anonymously share the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents within a five-mile radius, and its creators had recommended the App Store as the only safe venue from which to download and use it.
In a statement, Apple said it had taken down ICEBlock, and other similar apps, after being contacted by “law enforcement,” but it did not specify which agency or agencies had contacted it and did not say which other apps it had removed. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump administration officials have issued several legal threats over the use of ICEBlock — or even simply reporting on it. Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, said in July that the Justice Department was investigating whether it could prosecute CNN for reporting on the app’s existence, arguing that it amounted to “actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities.” It is unclear what crime that would amount to. |
