Apple removed ICEBlock, an app that allowed users to track and report Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, from its App Store on Oct. 2 after the Department of Justice (DOJ) warned it endangered federal agents, according to FOX Business News.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the takedown in an Oct. 2 statement to FOX, saying, “We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so.”
“ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed,” Bondi added. “This Department of Justice will continue making every effort to protect our brave federal law enforcement officers, who risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe.”
The removal comes days after a Sept. 24 shooting at a Dallas ICE facility, where authorities say a gunman used ICE-tracking apps to target officers. The suspected shooter, 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, killed one detainee, wounded two others, and later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. One of the injured has since died, FOX reported.
ICEBlock lets users drop pins marking ICE sightings and push alerts within a five-mile radius, according to a CNN report in June. FOX reported that the app, launched in April, had grown to more than 1.1 million users.
In a Sept. 25 press conference, ICE Associate Director Marcos Charles condemned the apps and said that “anyone who creates or distributes these apps that is designed to spot, track, and locate ICE officers are well aware of the dangers that they are exposing to law enforcement.”
“It’s no different than giving a hitman the location of their intended target, and this is exactly what we saw happen in Dallas yesterday,” Charles added. “The media has been amplifying these apps even as we warned them it would only lead to more attacks on law enforcement.”
Apple confirmed it pulled ICEBlock and other similar tools, citing safety concerns.
Joshua Aaron, the creator of ICEBlock, responded by criticizing Apple, saying that “capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move.”
“Apple has claimed they received information from law enforcement that ICEBlock served to harm law enforcement officers,” he told FOX. He argued that this is false, saying the app works like other mapping apps that employ crowd sourcing to flag speed traps.
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