The creators of the ICEBlock app, which was pulled from online stores amid criticism from Trump administration officials, are suing those officials.
Joshua Aaron and All U Chart, Inc. allege that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, and border czar Tom Homan used their federal positions to have the app removed.
The app alerted users to ICE immigration enforcement activity in their neighborhoods to help illegal immigrants avoid deportation. The app allowed users to share the “publicly observable locations of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents” through an anonymous map interface.”
The complaint states that he created the app “in response to the Trump administration’s unprecedented campaign to arrest, detain, and deport immigrants” and that the app was intended to provide communities with information so they could “stay informed about publicly observable ICE activity in their area.”
He further stated that the app was not meant “for the purpose of inciting violence or interfering with law enforcement.”
ICEBlock is a crowdsourcing app that alerts users about federal immigration activity in their area.
— reason (@reason) October 6, 2025
Apple just removed it from the app store under pressure from the DOJ.
The developer says his app is protected free speech.
What do you think?https://t.co/hZdYLBuDrk
The app gained national headlines when CNN reported on the technology in June. This prompted a backlash from senior Trump administration officials who allegedly “launched a coordinated campaign of retaliation against Aaron and CNN, spreading false claims about ICEBlock,” according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs allege that Lyons deceptively claimed the app was “invit[ing] violence”. At the same time, Attorney General Pam Bondi went on Fox News to warn Aaron that he “better watch out, because that’s not protected speech” and accused him of “threatening the lives of our law enforcement officers throughout this country.”
Noem was also a vocal critic of the app, claiming it “sure looks like obstruction of justice.” She further stated that DHS was working “with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute [CNN]” over its coverage of the app. The plaintiffs accuse these officials of trying to intimidate them and the media into refraining from amplifying the app.
The ICEBlock case in which Pam Bondi said the DOJ "reached out to Apple and demanded" they remove the app is, yes, the same kind of jawboning issue we saw in the Twitter Files. It's legal, protected speech, just like speed-trap apps like iRadarhttps://t.co/qXmBVb6Y5G
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 8, 2025
The lawsuit claims that the threats and public statements from these officials were intended to pressure Apple and other companies to remove ICEBlock from their app stores. This constitutes government censorship of speech that the First Amendment protects. For example, the plaintiffs cite Bondi’s comment: “We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so.”
Apple sent a message to Aaron explaining that “information provided to Apple by law enforcement shows that your app violates Guideline 1.1.1 because its purpose is to provide location information about law enforcement officers that can be used to harm such officers individually or as a group.”
Aaron is asking the court to determine that the officials’ actions violate his First Amendment rights and “permanently enjoin Defendants from pressuring platforms to block ICEBlock or 'threatening, investigating, or prosecuting Aaron' for creating, distributing, or promoting the app.
Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for Homeland Security, told NBC News that ICEBlock and similar apps “put the lives of the men and women of law enforcement in danger” and pointed to the drastic increases in violent attacks and threats against ICE agents.