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ICEBlock is a free iPhone app
The developer of an iPhone app for sharing sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers has been publicly threatened by the US Attorney General.
Trump’s deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers into Los Angeles — conducting raids the LA Mayor says are entirely unnecessary — has already sparked riots in the city. A free iOS app called ICEBlock has been letting users report sightings of these officers, and thereby warning other locals to avoid certain areas.
Now as first spotted by Wired, the app’s developer has been publicly threatened by United States Attorney General Pam Bondi. “We are looking at him,” she said on Fox News, “and he better watch out.”
There is no apparent legal basis for such a threat, and it appears to be an entirely unconstitutional attack against free speech. Developer Joshua Aaron says his app is about “informing, not obstructing.”
“We’re pushing back against authoritarianism. We’re pushing back against fascism,” Aaron said. “They’re gonna fire off hate rhetoric at you. They’re gonna demonize everything you’re doing. They’re gonna threaten you.”
White House takes on CNN
At the same time, Trump’s administration is following its usual playbook of threatening to sue. This time, its threat is against CNN just for covering the existence of the app.
“We’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them for that because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations,” Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem said to press, “and we’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them… because what they’re doing, we believe, is illegal.”
Noem can believe what she likes, but the reporting isn’t illegal and freedom of the press is expressly protected by the Constitution. CNN has so far responded solely with a tweet announcing that reporting on the existence of an app is neither illegal, nor indicative of any endorsement by the news organization.
Trump’s administration has taken the stance that the app is endangering ICE officers.
“Surely, it sounds like this would be an incitement of further violence against our ICE officers,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“[There has] been a 500 percent increase in violence against ICE agents,” Leavitt continued, without presenting any evidence and her failing to present the context that visible ICE agent actions have increased by well more than 500%.
The implication is that the app and any other resistance to the ICE raids in Los Angeles is responsible for this unsubstantiated increase in violence. Trump’s administration does not acknowledge that the actions of the ICE officers could have any part in prompting public reaction.
“If you remember, at the beginning of this administration, we were told that raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who had warrants,” Mayor Karen Bass said in June 2025. “But I don’t know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot, to people’s workplaces, where they’re just trying to make a living.”
