Developer of immigration official-tracking app ICEBlock sues US Justice Department

Lawyers allege Trump administration illegally 'coerced' Apple into removing app from its platform

The developer of ICEBlock, an app that allows users to report sightings of immigration agents, has filed a lawsuit against US Attorney General Pam Bondi and other federal officials.

In the lawsuit, seen by The National, app developer Joshua Aaron alleges that the US Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement illegally coerced Apple into removing the app from its App Store after it had been downloaded more than one million times.

“Software programs like ICEBlock are a form of speech protected by the First Amendment,” the lawsuit filed in Washington district court reads. “The First Amendment similarly protects Mr Aaron’s right to create, distribute, and promote ICEBlock.”

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The developer of ICEBlock says that the DOJ and other government entities used coercion to convince Apple to remove the app from its iPhone App Store.

Noam Biale, one of the lawyers representing Mr Aaron, said he would pursue the case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

“We will take this as far as we need to so we can vindicate Josh's rights and the rights of users everywhere,” he said, adding that ICEBlock represents a fundamental right of people to “communicate with each other and disseminate information”.

Mr Aaron, who developed the app, expressed his confidence that the law was on his side.

"We're not going to hide," he said. "They [DOJ] did something wrong and we're going to take the fight to that point."

His app, which first appeared in Apple's iPhone App Store in April, uses crowdsourced data to report and track sightings of US immigration agents.

It alerts users to the presence of ICE officials in an 8km radius.

The idea for the app came after US President Donald Trump's push to accelerate deportations of people living in the US illegally, which was a key pillar of his election campaign as he sought to return to the White House.

During an interview with The National in July, Mr Aaron, who is Jewish, said that he decided to create the app after meeting Holocaust survivors and learning about Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany.

Mr Trump's aggressive deployment of ICE agents has come under fire from critics and immigration law experts, who say people are being denied due process as they are arrested and sent to detention centres or deported.

In the weeks that followed ICEBlock's debut, its popularity soared near the top of iPhone App Store download charts in various parts of the US.

It quickly became the source of anger within the Trump White House.

In July, the US Attorney General told Fox News that the Justice Department was “looking into” the developer.

Mr Aaron's wife, who worked for the federal government, was terminated amid accusations that she played a role in developing the app, which she denied.

Despite the accusations and mounting anger from the Trump administration about ICEBlock, it remained in Apple's App Store, with Mr Aaron pointing out that he dealt with Apple employees and lawyers to get the app approved, and noted that ICEBlock was similar to apps that alert drivers of potential locations of speed traps.

A few months later, however, Apple informed Mr Aaron that it had decided to remove ICEBlock from the company's App Store.

“Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store,” Apple said at the time.

In response to The National's requests for comment, the Justice Department chose not to provide any statement on the lawsuit, but did point to the AG's previous opposition to the app .

In an email to ICEBlock's developer, Apple explained its rationale for pulling the app from its App Store.

Mr Aaron's lawyer, Mr Biale, insists ICEBlock is on firm footing based on case law and legal precedent.

“This is clearly protected speech,” he said.

In his capacity as partner and pro bono co-ordinator at Sher Tremonte law firm, he successfully argued that the Trump administration's push to deport foreigners in the US for pro-Palestinian advocacy violated free speech laws.

“He's a hell of an attorney,” Mr Aaron said, adding that although ICEBlock is no longer available from Apple's App Store, it still works.

Apple has not yet responded to The National's requests for comment.