Apple removed ice blocks and other apps from the App Store, allowing users to anonymously report sightings of US Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents under pressure from the Trump administration.
The app went viral earlier this year, so users are legally sharing information about where they saw the ice agent within a 5-mile radius of the location and wearing clothing agent details.
According to various media reports, Apple said it had removed the app after contacting “law enforcement” about “safety risks” related to ice blocks and similar apps.
“I contacted Apple today asking Apple to remove the Iceblock app from the App Store. Apple did,” US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in an email. The Justice Department did not answer questions about the details of the app that was ordered to be removed and how many people were on the list.
It is worth noting that Iceblock does not collect or store user data that TechCrunch has verified by analyzing the app’s network traffic as part of its testing.
The Takedown has heightened tensions between the Trump administration and those opposed the government’s hard-hit immigration agenda, with two detainees killed and one in hospital, particularly after being shot last week at an ice detention center in Dallas. CNBC cited an FBI official who claimed that gunmen searched for apps that tracked the presence of ice agents.
The US government argues that apps like Ice Block put federal workers at risk by revealing locations and portraits. Authorities have repeatedly threatened legal action against people using ice blocks, and in July Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem said they were trying to see if CNN could be charged to report on the app.
“Ice blocks are designed to put ice agents at risk just for their work, and violence against law enforcement is an unbearable red line that cannot be crossed,” Bondy said in a statement.
Bondy in July also warned Iceblock developer Joshua Aaron that the Justice Department was “looking at him.”
Apple and the Justice Department did not immediately return requests for comment. The Iceblock developer could not be reached for comment.
This story has been updated to add a quote by US Attorney General Pamela Bondy.
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