ICE location app developer sues government, not Apple, for app store removal

Joshua Aaron, the developer of the ICE agent tracking app ICEBlock, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice and ICE for unconstitutionally pressuring Apple to remove the app from its App Store. 

Apple pulled ICEBlock in early October after Justice Department officials contacted the company claiming that the app enables users to evade immigration raids and endangers ICE agents. The app, which has more than a million downloads, gives users notifications when ICE agents are nearby, and allows users to anonymously report the location of ICE agent activity, but only if they are located in the same area. 

Aaron’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks reinstatement of the app, plus appropriate damages. The case could reshape how tech platforms handle government requests, particularly when those requests come without formal warrants or court orders.

The developer argues the app simply facilitates sharing of public information, similar to community apps that track traffic or weather. The lawsuit claims Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials violated Aaron’s rights by forcing the app’s removal without a court order. 

“The goal is pretty simple–we’re hoping to set a precedent that says not only is ICEBlock protected by the First Amendment but they cannot come after me and threaten me as they’ve been doing over the past year,” Aaron tells Fast Company. If successful, the lawsuit could prevent the Justice Department or other federal agencies from depriving other lawful apps of distribution in the future. 

The ICEBlock app removal may be a case of an unconstitutional government tactic known as “jawboning,” in which a government official uses their official capacity to pressure a private sector entity to do something. In another recent example of the practice, FCC chairman Brendan Carr used an implicit threat of regulatory entanglement to pressure ABC and its affiliates to drop Jimmy Kimmel’s “Kimmel Live” show. 

Bondi may have admitted, in public, to jawboning, when she spoke on Fox Digital the night after Apple’s removal of ICEBlock on October 2, 2025. “We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store–and Apple did so,” Bondi declared, according to the lawsuit. 

“With this admission, Attorney General Bondi made plain that the United States government used its regulatory power to coerce a private platform to suppress First Amendment-protected expression,” the suit states. Bondi again boasted of the ICEBlock take-down during a congressional oversight hearing two days later. 

But it may take more than Bondi’s public statements to prove that the government violated the First Amendment. The EFF, a digital rights group, recently filed suit to compel the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to release documentation of their communications with Apple and other tech platforms that led to the app removals. 

Meta removed a Facebook group with 80,000 members called ICE Sighting-Chicagoland at the request (or demand) of the government. Chicago residents had been using the apps to warn neighbors when the masked federal agents were near area schools, grocery stores, and other community locations. Google removed an ICE tracking app called Red Dot from its Google Play store, saying the app violated its policy against apps that share the location of what it describes as a “vulnerable group.”

Large tech companies have largely overlooked the authoritarian tendencies of the Trump administration, choosing instead to appease and coddle it, and capitulate to its demands. The tech industry is engaged in investing trillions in AI, and wants the administration to continue hobbling the government’s normal regulation and oversight.

Precedent may be on Aaron’s side. “There is a long history that shows documenting law enforcement performing their duties in public is protected First Amendment activity,” Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Mario Trujillo tells Fast Company. “The government acted unlawfully when it demanded Apple remove ICEBlock, while threatening others with prosecution.”

Reuters reported that members of the House Homeland Security committee argued in a letter to tech companies that free speech does not protect incitement to lawless action, and called on them to explain how they vet and monitor such content.

Apple cited its App Store guidelines prohibiting content that poses “safety risks” as justification for the removal, but critics argue the vague policy allows for arbitrary enforcement influenced by government pressure. As AppleInsider’s Wesley Hilliard points out, the App Store carries the Waze and Apple Maps apps, both of which allow users to post information about nearby traffic enforcement personnel.

source https://www.fastcompany.com/91456819/ice-location-app-apple-bondi-trump-immigration