Creator Of Anti-ICE App Runs To Court After App Removed From Apple Store

The man behind a viral app that tracks deportation officers is accusing the Trump administration of violating his free speech rights after Apple removed the app from its store.

Joshua Aaron, the liberal activist who launched ICEBlock earlier this year, filed a lawsuit against several top administration officials in federal court on Monday, according to court documents. Aaron, who has publicly praised Antifa in the past and likened Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to Nazis, is claiming the White House unconstitutionally suppressed his free speech rights when it successfully coerced Apple into removing ICEBlock from its App Store in October.

“This lawsuit challenges these government officials’ unconstitutional threats and demands against Apple, which pressured it to remove the ICEBlock app from the App Store,” the lawsuit states. “In particular, Attorney General Bondi’s coercion of Apple has censored Aaron and ALL U Chart, Inc., which owns ICEBlock’s intellectual property, by making ICEBlock — their speech— unavailable to the public.”

“For what appears to be the first time in Apple’s nearly fifty-year history, Apple removed a U.S.-based app in response to the U.S. government’s demands,” the lawsuit continues.

Aaron’s lawsuit targets Attorney General Pam Bondi, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Border Czar Tom Homan and other top federal officials, according to court documents. The legal challenge was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

ICEBlock is a crowdsourced app that alerts users when ICE agents or other federal immigration authorities are spotted within a five-mile radius. Anyone on the app can ping others nearby if they see immigration agents and list other identifying details, such as what the officers are wearing and what car they’re driving, ostensibly allowing illegal migrants nearby to avoid apprehension.