Overview
- The federal complaint filed Dec. 8 in Washington names Attorney General Pam Bondi, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Acting Director Todd M. Lyons, and White House border adviser Tom Homan, alleging unlawful threats and retaliation.
- Apple removed ICEBlock in October after Justice Department outreach, citing law-enforcement information that the app could be used to harm officers; Apple is not a defendant and declined comment.
- The suit seeks a court declaration of First Amendment violations and injunctions barring officials from coercing platforms or threatening the developer, and it asks for the app’s distribution to be restored.
- ICEBlock enabled anonymous reports of publicly observable ICE activity with alerts that expired after four hours and data purged, and it remained usable for existing iPhone users after App Store removal.
- Related efforts for transparency and accountability are underway, including an EFF records lawsuit and House Homeland Security requests for briefings from Apple and Google due by Dec. 12.