Ranking Member Raskin Expands Investigation into Apple and Google for Enabling DOJ Efforts to Shut Down Apps for Reporting on ICE Activity
After Pressing DOJ for Answers, Raskin Probes Tech Giants’ Role in Removing Apps That Enable American Citizens to Exercise First Amendment Rights by Reporting on Government Activity
Washington, D.C. (June 16, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, is expanding his investigation into a Trump Administration campaign involving the Department of Justice (DOJ), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the White House targeting apps used by the public to report and share information about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) activity. Ranking Member Raskin expanded the probe after Apple and Google removed or blocked ICE monitoring apps following Administration pressure, and is now seeking information about their communications with the Department and decisions affecting potentially First Amendment-protected speech.
“The coercion and censorship campaign, which ultimately targets the users of ICE-monitoring applications, is a clear effort to silence this Administration’s critics and suppress any evidence that would expose the Administration’s lies, including its Orwellian attempts to cover up the murders of Renée and Alex,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin in letters to Apple and Google.
The Trump Administration’s unconstitutional tactics in its indiscriminate round-up of immigrants have unleashed violence and chaos upon the American people. On multiple occasions, Americans exercising their First Amendment rights to document ICE actions have been beaten up, shot, and killed, then falsely accused of instigating despite video and eyewitness proof otherwise. In response to the blatant injustices perpetuated by ICE, the public has turned to apps to report information about ICE and CBP presence in their communities.
Then-Attorney General Bondi made public calls for the removal of these apps and threatened the developers who created them. Both Apple and Google complied within days of Bondi’s public demand, without a formal legal request. The silencing of these apps is another attempt to lawlessly cover up the illegal and violent actions of ICE and the Trump administration.
These monitoring apps are clearly legal and constitutional. The First Amendment guarantees Americans the right to report, record, and criticize the actions of our government and law enforcement. The courts have long recognized access to public police activity as an important part of free speech rights. A federal judge recently granted a preliminary injunction finding that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that federal officials violated the First Amendment by coercing private companies to remove speech, including an app, about ICE activity. While the government cites agent safety as the reason behind app removals, these claims remain largely unsubstantiated . These apps passed initial approval processes, follow all content moderation rules, and do not collect user data. The reporting features on many ICE tracking apps are no different than other apps still hosted by the platforms, like Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze that label police location on maps.
The removal of these apps prevented millions from accessing and using government accountability and transparency tools and created a chilling effect on further developers improving upon or creating similar tools.
“Your company’s eager compliance with this pressure is alarming and part of a growing pattern within the tech industry, but it need not continue,” wrote the Ranking Member.
Ranking Member Raskin is demanding Apple and Google provide communications to the DOJ and app developers, as well as documentation regarding the removal of the ICE monitoring apps.
In February, Ranking Member Raskin wrote to then-Attorney General Bondi demanding answers on DOJ’s coercive campaign to block access to ICE monitoring apps.
Click here to read the letter to Apple.
Click here to read the letter to Google.