House Homeland leaders seek briefings from Apple, Google on ICE-tracking apps
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Republican lawmakers say crowdsourced tools that flag immigration enforcement activity may endanger federal personnel and disrupt operations.
Senior House Homeland Security Committee Republicans are seeking information from Apple and Google about mobile applications that enable users to report or track the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
In letters sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, committee chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., and Oversight subcommittee chair Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., said the apps could compromise officer safety by distributing real-time location data and identifying details about federal personnel.
The lawmakers also said the tools may interfere with active enforcement actions. Google and Apple did not immediately return requests for comment.
The inquiry follows the removal of the ICEBlock application from Apple’s App Store earlier this year after the Justice Department raised concerns about its potential use to monitor and target ICE agents. Both companies limited downloads of such apps in October.
According to the lawmakers, a gunman who attacked a federal facility in Dallas in September allegedly used the app before the incident.
“The Committee seeks to better understand what measures [Apple and Google are] taking to remove these types of apps from the [Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store] and to ensure that they are not used to endanger the safety of federal law enforcement officers or interfere with the legal execution of federal immigration enforcement,” they wrote in the missive.
Garbarino and Brecheen requested briefings by Dec. 12 detailing how the companies evaluate law enforcement-related applications, the criteria used to moderate user-submitted content and any prior communication with federal agencies about similar apps. The lawmakers said that while users may have First Amendment protections, those protections are “not absolute.”
The applications, which were developed by immigrant-rights advocates, allow users to submit reports of suspected ICE activity and distribute alerts to nearby community members. Supporters compare them to other community notification tools, while federal officials argue that the ability to track specific officers introduces operational and safety concerns.
Newsweek first reported the letters.
ICE received a historic cash infusion this year, as the White House seeks to ramp up immigration raids and speed deportations. The agency, which is facing high degrees of controversy and scrutiny, is tapping into a recruitment pipeline run by the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly boost the intake of cybersecurity and tech talent, a top agency official said last month.