Lawmaker says Apple worked with Trump admin to remove ICE-tracking apps

US Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) accused Apple of working with the Trump administration to restrict Americans' ability to record and report on immigration enforcement, in a letter sent to the company Monday and first reported by CNN.

Apple is "working with the government to violate its customers' First Amendment rights to record and report on the activities of their own government," Raskin wrote. The congressman also asked Apple for a full list of the apps it removed after concerns from the Justice Department, so the removal decisions can be reviewed independently.

A Dallas shooting and an unproven claim

Apple pulled ICEBlock and other ICE-tracking apps after a fatal shooting at a Dallas ICE office left two detainees dead. The shooter, Joshua Jahn, fired indiscriminately into the building before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot; his notes said he hoped his actions would give ICE agents "real terror of being gunned down."

FBI Director Kash Patel has said the Texas shooter "searched for apps that tracked ICE agents' locations." Raskin told Apple there is no evidence the shooter used such an app, adding that he "did not need a tracking app to locate the fixed position of a government building" and reportedly found the address using an app that comes standard on Apple devices.

The Department of Homeland Security often cites an internal October 2025 statistic claiming an 8,000 percent increase in death threats against ICE officers, but it has not released the data that would let independent parties verify the figure.

Apple's defense and a censorship lawsuit

In a July letter to Raskin signed by senior director of government affairs Timothy Powderly, Apple said it reviewed the apps after reports of a "significant increase in ICE activity and threats against ICE." Sharing "precise location information about ICE officers" creates "a potential roadmap for targeted violence," the company argued, and Apple insists it decided to act on its own.

ICEBlock's creator, Joshua Aaron, is suing Trump administration officials for censoring watchdogs, pointing to former Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly taking credit for the removal. The government has asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that Apple moderated the content independently. An August ruling by the Second Circuit upheld a First Amendment right to record law enforcement activity in public, which Aaron cites in his opposition filing.

Raskin said the removals will not survive that standard: monitoring federal immigration authorities deployed to users' neighborhoods is "a core First Amendment right and not a crime."