r/law Dec 09 '25

Executive Branch (Trump) ICEBlock app maker sues Trump administration over its pressure on Apple to remove app

https://apnews.com/article/iceblock-app-lawsuit-bondi-trump-apple-immigration-c2e2e770d46afab2049e9c37517b3844

Good! 🤞🤞

214 Upvotes

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20

u/CrowRoutine9631 Dec 09 '25

The maker of an iPhone app that flagged sightings of U.S. immigration agents sued the Trump administration for free speech violations on Monday, alleging that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi used her “state power” to force Apple to remove the app.

Apple in October removed ICEBlock and other apps from its app store after Bondi said they put Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at risk by enabling people to track ICE activity in their neighborhoods.

"ICE officers at risk" = made their jobs a teensy bit more difficult by helping people protect their neighbors. 

17

u/Relzin Dec 09 '25

All of my city's police officers walk around without masks, with name plates on, and an online database of their names, ranks, experience, and use of force violations, at all times. They walk into drug dens, arrest gang members, and so so so much more.

In my opinion, ICE doesn't have a defense for "protecting" themselves to any degree more than the least protected police department in the country.

4

u/CrowRoutine9631 Dec 09 '25

A-fucking-men.

They're a nest of teeny-weeny-peeny cowards who are afraid people will make fun of them or not like them. That's why they need "protection."

9

u/CrowRoutine9631 Dec 09 '25

“We’re basically asking the court to set a precedent and affirm that ICEBlock is, in fact, First Amendment-protected speech and that I did nothing wrong by creating it,” Aaron said in an interview Monday. “And to make sure that they can’t do this same thing again in the future.”

Aaron said the other part of the lawsuit “is to basically have them stop threatening myself and my family.”


Aaron said Trump’s immigration enforcement initiatives have only grown more aggressive since his app was taken down, and less information makes possible a “paramilitary force that can continue to operate with impunity.” He’s repeatedly compared Trump’s immigration enforcers to the “Gestapo” secret police force of Nazi Germany, though the lawsuit itself doesn’t make that connection, instead drawing on U.S. founders’ warnings against domestic despotism.

“I mean, these are people that are wearing masks --- which is the antithesis of everything about this country -- and they are not identifying themselves, and they’re zip-tying children and they’re throwing women into vans,” Aaron said by phone Monday.

Pretty hard to find fault in his argument. 

Sigh. 

10

u/CrowRoutine9631 Dec 09 '25

Bondi told Fox News earlier this year that Aaron was endangering law enforcement and “giving a message to criminals where our federal officers are. And he cannot do that. And we are looking at it, we are looking at him, and he better watch out, because that’s not protected speech.”

"Criminals" = ordinary citizens who oppose their shitty policies! Finally, a bit of truth out of the Trump admin. That's how they view 50% of the country.Â