The Trump administration has been cracking down on immigration through the deployment of ICE officers across the country. These initiatives have been met with backlash from people living in the United States.
Several protests have been held to call out the mass deployment of ICE across the country, while others are reporting ICE sightings on social media. A developer saw a need to gather the latter’s information and launched an app titled ICEBlock.
What is the ICEBlock app?
ICEBlock is an app that allows users to report ICE activity in real time within a five-mile radius. All reports are anonymous. The app is free to download on the App Store. ICEBlock isn’t currently available on Androids, as “achieving this level of anonymity on Android is not feasible due to the inherent requirements of push notification services,” according to the app’s website.
The app currently counts over 70,000 users, according to The Independent. This number is growing rapidly as it reached the No. 1 spot on the App Store’s most downloaded list on Tuesday. ICEBlock is available in 14 languages; it has adopted the slogan, “See something, tap something.”
“In recent years, ICE has faced criticism for alleged civil rights abuses and failures to adhere to constitutional principles and due process, making it crucial for communities to stay informed about its operations,” the app’s website indicates. “Modeled after Waze but for ICE sightings, the app ensures user privacy by storing no personal data, making it impossible to trace reports back to individual users.”
The app’s developer added that he saw parallels between the current deportation of immigrants in the U.S. with those that occurred in Nazi Germany in the 1940s.
“When I saw what was happening in this country, I wanted to do something to fight back,” Joshua Aaron told CNN. “We’re literally watching history repeat itself.”
ICEBlock “does not condone violence of any kinds,” he also told The Independent. “We state this multiple times in the app, and I have reiterated this in every interview I have given. ICEBlock serves to ‘inform, not obstruct’ and its goal is to allow people to avoid potentially harmful encounters with ICE.”
The Trump administration is alleging the ICEBlock app condones violence
Several members of the Trump administration have criticized the app and have alleged it promotes violence against ICE officers.
“What they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities, operations, and we’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, per The Independent. “What they’re doing is illegal.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added that ICEBlock “sounds like this would be an incitement of further violence against our ICE officers.”
ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons called out coverage of the app’s popularity by CNN, saying that it is “reckless and irresponsible.”
“Advertising an app that basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs is sickening,” he said. “Going on live television to announce an app that lets anyone zero in on their locations is like inviting violence against them with a national megaphone. CNN is willfully endangering the lives of officers who put their lives on the line every day and enabling dangerous criminal aliens to evade U.S. law. Is this simply reckless ‘journalism’ or overt activism?”
CNN published a response, which indicated reporting on the app is not illegal: “This is an app that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it,” the network wrote in a statement, according to The Independent. “There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN.”
“We will not be intimidated,” Aaron said in response to the Trump administration’s claims. “As long as ICE agents have quotas, and this administration ignores people’s constitutional rights, we will continue fighting back.”
“No human is illegal,” he added.