WASHINGTON (AP) — The maker of an iPhone app that flags sightings of U.S. immigration agents sued the Trump administration on Monday for violating free speech, accusing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi of using “state power” to force Apple to remove the app.
Apple removed ICEBlock and other apps from its App Store in October after Bondi said they put Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at risk by allowing people to track ICE activity in their communities.
Joshua Aaron, the maker of the ICEBlock app, filed a lawsuit claiming the government’s actions violated the First Amendment.
The lawsuit also asks a federal judge to protect the Texas software developer from prosecution, alleging that “Attorney General Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Acting Director Todd M. Lyons and White House border czar Tom Homan made unlawful threats to criminally investigate and prosecute Aaron for his role in developing ICEBlock.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ICEBlock was the most widely used ICE tracking app in Apple’s App Store until Bondi said in October that her office contacted Apple “to ask them to remove ICEBlock,” claiming it was “designed to put ICE agents at risk as a result of their work.”
Apple quickly complied, sending an email to Aaron saying it would block further downloads of the app because new information “provided to Apple by law enforcement” showed the app violated App Store rules.
According to the email, which Aaron shared with The Associated Press in October, Apple said the app violated the company’s policies “because its purpose is to provide location information to law enforcement officers that could be used to harm those officers individually or collectively.”
