ICEBlock climbs to the top of the App Store charts after officials slam it
CNN's piece talked about how the app's developer, Joshua Aaron, launched it in early April after seeing the Trump administration crack down on immigration. When the piece went live, Aaron said the app had 20,000 users, many of whom live in Los Angeles, where ICE has been raiding neighborhoods. In addition to letting users pin ICE agent locations on a map, the app also gives them a way to add notes, such as what the agents are wearing or what car they're driving. Any user within a five mile radius of the sighting will get an alert.
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested that the CNN piece was "an incitement of further violence against... ICE officers" when asked to respond to the report on the podium. She said that there's been a 500 percent increase against ICE agents who are just "trying to do their jobs and remove public safety threats from... communities." ICE acting Director Todd M. Lyons also issued a statement, saying that the app paints a target on federal law enforcement officers' backs. " CNN is willfully endangering the lives of officers who put their lives on the line every day and enabling dangerous criminal aliens to evade US law," he continued. "Is this simply reckless 'journalism' or overt activism?"
Meanwhile, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and US Attorney General Pam Bondi both said the government is going after Aaron. "He's giving a message to criminals where our federal officers are," Bondi said. "...we are looking at it, we are looking at him, and he better watch out, because that's not a protected speech. That is threatening the lives of our law enforcement officers throughout this country."'
Aaron told CNN that ICEBlock doesn't collect personal data, such as device IDs and IP addresses, which TechCrunch has confirmed in a test. The app is only available on iOS, because it would have to collect information on Android that could put people at risk. If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.

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Gizmodo
27 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Trump Threatens to Prosecute CNN for Reporting on ICEBlock as App Hits No. 1
ICEBlock, a new app that allows users to submit information about the location of ICE officers spotted in their community, has shot to the number one spot on the Apple App Store. And it's largely thanks to publicity from the White House and President Donald Trump's angry band of fascists. The ICEBlock app was created by developer Joshua Aaron, who told CNN that he wanted to create something to fight back against the deportations he saw happening in Los Angeles. The city has been terrorized by masked thugs in recent weeks who are abducting people off the streets as part of Trump's plan to purge the country of anyone deemed insufficiently white. Trump was taking a tour of a new concentration camp for immigrants in Florida on Tuesday when he and Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, were asked by reporters about the app. They threatened to go after the news network in typical MAGA fashion. 'We're working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them for that,' Noem said of CNN. 'Because 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 with the partnership of Pam if we can. Because what they're doing, we believe, is illegal.' Pam is a reference to Pam Bondi, Trump's extremist Attorney General. And while Trump seemed to agree with Noem's call for CNN to be prosecuted for reporting on the existence of an app, he seemed even more preoccupied with his recent illegal bombing of Iran. 'And they may be prosecuted also for having given false reports on the attack in Iran,' Trump said. 'They were given totally false reports. It was totally obliterated. And our people have to be celebrated, not come home and say, what do you mean we didn't hit the target?' CNN, along with other news outlets, reported that Trump's bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities may have only delayed the country's ability to produce a nuke (if it wanted to) by a few months. Tom Homan, the so-called border czar, appeared on Fox Business on Tuesday to complain about the app as well. 'I just can't believe we're in a place where a TV network like CNN is talking about this app and educating people on the existence of this app,' Homan told Stuart Varney. 'This is a dangerous job,' Homan continued. 'And this app is going to give the bad guy a heads up that we're coming. Which means more bad guys are going to escape arrest, which makes this country less safe, which is a public safety issue.' Homan continued that he was sick of people vilifying ICE agents as Nazis and that he wants something to be done by the U.S. Department of Justice. Homan says he's 'begging the Department of Justice to look into' the ICEBlock app and CNN's alleged promotion of it [image or embed] — Aaron Rupar (@ July 1, 2025 at 7:27 AMICE agents are indeed terrorizing communities across the country, though it's not always clear that they're federal agents. They often storm into a neighborhood with their faces covered, carrying high-powered weapons and refusing to identify themselves. There have been several incidents now where people have claimed to be ICE in attempts to rob other people using the exact same tactics. Gizmodo emailed ICE to ask if the app has made it more difficult to arrest workers and separate families. The agency directed us to a statement posted online by ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons who called the app 'reckless and irresponsible.' 'Advertising an app that basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers' backs is sickening,' Lyons said in the statement. 'My officers and agents are already facing a 500% increase in assaults, and 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.' That 500% increase is bullshit, of course, as the Washington Post recently explained. When agents arrested New York City comptroller Brad Lander, the Department of Homeland Security put out a statement claiming that he would be charged with 'assaulting law enforcement.' But the incident was captured on video from several angles and shows Lander didn't assault anyone. Lander ultimately wasn't charged with anything after getting manhandled and thrown in jail. When Gizmodo followed up with ICE to ask for evidence of its claim of a 500% increase in assaults on officers, an unsigned email said it was actually 700%. No evidence was provided. '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?' Lyons continued in ICE's prepared statement. It's not illegal to report on the existence of an app, of course. But Trump and ICE are operating so far outside the bounds of the law that it's not out of the question that these guys could go after CNN for writing about ICEBlock. Or they could go after Gizmodo, for that matter. Because you're currently reading an article about the existence of an app. And that's apparently a very dangerous thing to do right now in Trump's America.


The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
‘Don't you dare': GOP's Roy dismisses White House argument on megabill
Vice President Vance and White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller are centering their public closing arguments for the 'big, beautiful bill' on immigration enforcement — prompting sharp pushback from one GOP holdout. 'Don't you dare come to me and say this is about border,' said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who is highly critical of the Senate's changes to the bill and who serves as a barometer for other deficit hawks in the House GOP. 'This is a how-many-trillion-dollar bill, with how much in terms of debt and how many issues at play? You want to come back and tell me it's about $150 billion border funding?' Roy told me. Roy's pushback came as Vance urged Republicans to brush aside concerns about deficits and Medicaid reforms in order to fuel President Trump's mass deportation agenda with the billions for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), border agents, a border wall and other immigration enforcement priorities. 'Everything else—the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy—is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions,' Vance posted on social platform X late Monday night. Miller went on Sean Hannity's Fox News show Monday night to stress the conservative wins in Trump's tax cut and spending priorities bill. 'This is the most far-reaching border security proposal, Homeland Security proposal in my lifetime. Sean, not just my lifetime, going back to Eisenhower, going back to since we've had about the border,' Miller said. And in an apparent response to House GOP complaints that the Senate parliamentarian stripped out a provision punishing states that give Medicaid benefits to immigrants who entered the country illegally, Miller posted Tuesday on X: 'The best way to keep illegal aliens from getting free healthcare is to deport them.' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson underscored the immigration messaging in a statement. 'President Trump's One, Big, Beautiful bill slashes deficits and debt and unleashes economic growth while delivering on another one of the President's key promises: deport criminal illegal aliens and permanently secure the border,' Jackson said. 'While the President has already been extraordinarily successful on these two fronts, the One Big Beautiful Bill is critical to fortify his success and make the progress permanent.' The public focus on the border and immigration arguments frustrated Roy, who pointed back to the one-or-two debate in January, when Republicans were debating whether to pursue one or two bills to enact Trump's top legislative priorities through the budget reconciliation process — which allows them to bypass the 60-vote threshold and the need for Democratic votes in the Senate but that can only be used once per fiscal year. The House Freedom Caucus had pitched a two-step strategy in January, quickly delivering a boost for Trump's immigration enforcement agenda while addressing the tax cut extension later. 'I would direct them to the memo that we in the Freedom Caucus and conservatives put out,' Roy said. 'Here's the two-bill strategy. We will deliver you a debt ceiling increase. We will deliver you border funding. We will deliver you defense funding, and we want some modest, you know, upfront spending restraint to go along with that. And then let's go debate tax and spend. And a different choice was made. And so here we are.' Republicans, at the direction of Trump, ultimately went for the 'one big, beautiful bill,' as Trump put it — eventually adopting the moniker as the official title of the legislation. Trump addressed the multi- versus single-bill debate Tuesday: 'Smaller bills would have been easy, but they wouldn't have been as good.' Putting all the bill sweeteners together is also useful for GOP leaders trying to push holdouts to support the bill and drag the legislation across the finish line — by making the exact kind of arguments that Vance and Miller are making. Moderate Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who has expressed concerns about the bill's Medicaid provisions and rollback of clean energy tax credits, acknowledged as much when I asked him about the arguments about putting concerns aside to advance the border security measures. 'I do think making the tax rates permanent, great plus ups in defense spending and added border security are huge assets to this bill,' Bacon said. But are they big enough assets to overcome concerns from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum? The holdouts — who have long supported the major Trump agenda items in the bill — do not seem to be swayed by those arguments just yet. William Martin, communications director to Vance, said in a statement that the vice president 'worked tirelessly with Republican leadership and key White House officials to get the One Big Beautiful Bill through the Senate.' 'It was a demonstration to everyone in this party that the entire White House is steadfastly committed to getting this legislation through Congress and on President Trump's desk before the week is over,' Martin said. House Republicans are facing an incredibly difficult self-imposed July 4 deadline for final passage after the Senate approved the bill Tuesday — which some Republicans think is not realistic. Further reading: House conservatives threaten floor revolt over Trump megabill, from my colleague Mychael Schnell. Welcome to The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I'm Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what's on your radar: ebrooks@ Programming note: The Movement will be back in your inbox Tuesday morning next week. Not already on the list? Subscribe here The public and messy feud between Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk was reignited this week over the president's 'big, beautiful bill,' my colleagues Alex Gangitano and Julia Mueller write. Musk said Monday he would back primary challengers to any Republicans over the bill that the Congressional Budget Office says will add to the deficit. He promised to donate to lawmakers who have drawn the administration's ire, like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Trump in response threatened to cut government contracts for Musk's companies and left open the possibility of deporting the South African tech CEO. 'I think what's going to happen is DOGE is going to look at Musk. And if DOGE looks at Musk, we're going to save a fortune,' Trump said Tuesday, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency, the agency Musk led earlier this year. Not quite as intense as the initial Trump-Musk breakup last month, when Musk accused Trump of being in the 'Epstein files.' But it's definitely an end to the ceasefire between the two that lasted for a few weeks, when both had signaled they were ready to move on from their initial blow-up. As the Musk feud bubbled back up to a boil, another one simmered down. While visiting the new migrant detention center in Florida known as 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Trump praised his former primary rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), my colleague Julia Manchester reports. 'Ron, I'd like to thank you personally,' Trump told DeSantis at the event. 'You're my friend, you'll always be my friend, and we may have some skirmishes even in the future, I doubt it, but we'll always come back because we have blood that seems to match pretty well. We have a relationship that has been a strong one for a very long time, and I appreciate it.' Quite the far cry from the 'DeSanctimonious' nickname that Trump gave the Florida governor during the 2024 primary. And tensions never fully cooled: Not even a month ago, DeSantis's PAC sent out a pro-DOGE fundraising blast as the Trump-Musk feud broke down, saying that Musk 'stood tall and took all the hits.' Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett landed back in MAGA's good graces last week, my colleagues Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee report. Barrett had faced conservative criticism over her breaks with Trump in rulings earlier this year, causing MAGA online influencers to decry her as a 'backstabber' and a 'fraud.' And pro-Trump lawyer Mike Davis, a former Senate Judiciary GOP staffer who now runs the Article III Project that has been positioning as an alternative to the conservative Federalist Society, had criticized her for not stoping 'activist judges.' But last week, Barrett led the court's decision along ideological lines in Trump's birthright citizenship case limiting lower court use of nationwide injunctions — not only handing Trump a win, but doing so while issuing a full-throated takedown of liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. 'We observe only this: Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary,' Barrett wrote, while citing one of the most basic and foundational Supreme Court cases, Marbury v. Madison. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who has criticized Barrett for breaking with Trump, called the exchange an 'epic mic drop moment.' And she got some praise from Trump himself, too. 'I want to thank Justice Barrett, who wrote the opinion brilliantly,' Trump said at an impromptu White House press conference shortly after the opinion was issued.


Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Say My Name—We Are Not All Jose and Maria
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. In what seemed like a mocking and dismissive tone, Vice President JD Vance recently referred to Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) as "Jose Padilla." Whether calling him by the wrong name was deliberate or unintentional, the impact is the same. It's dehumanizing. It's a devaluing of the more than 65 million Latinos in the U.S. that some people see as just another Jose or Maria, not as people who contribute to this country. Latino GDP in the U.S. is $3.7 trillion and undocumented immigrants alone pay an average of $100 billion a year in taxes. Protestors gathered on the corners of Sunset Boulevard and Vin Scully in Los Angeles, Calif. on June 21, 2025, to protest against ICE and President Donald Trump. Protestors gathered on the corners of Sunset Boulevard and Vin Scully in Los Angeles, Calif. on June 21, 2025, to protest against ICE and President Donald Trump. MADISON SWART/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images As a Latina, I experience that when we are othered, when we are all grouped as Marias or Joses, it makes it easier for our community to be attacked and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct mass raids at Home Depots, bus stops, schools, courthouses, and churches. We are not individuals with rights if they see us all bearing the same name. I know what it feels like to be called Maria. As a young journalist working at a major newspaper in the Midwest, a top editor and white male, who interviewed me for the position, casually walked by me one time and said, "Hi Maria." "My name is not Maria. My name is Teresa," I said calmly and firmly, rolling my R's. He slowly turned beet red as I stared back at him. Maria is not a part of my name. When he misnamed me, it felt as if he didn't truly see me or respect me. I was just another Maria, another Latina that he could diminish. Latinos make up 12 percent of those working in media, including news, film, and publishing. More than 20 years ago, there were even fewer of us working in newsrooms. Today, the Latino community is under attack by ICE and the policies of the second Donald Trump administration. All Latinos—all brown people and people of color—are being othered, and mislabeled as foreigners when the opposite is true. Nearly two-thirds of Latinos are U.S. citizens and only around 13 percent are undocumented. But we are all vulnerable to ICE detention, as we've seen cases of Latinos who are U.S. citizens wrongfully detained. ICE arresting U.S. citizens isn't new. It happened under former President Barack Obama and the first Trump administration. At least 70 citizens were deported by ICE between 2015 and 2020, with hundreds more detained or arrested, according to a Government Accountability Office report. But the arrests of U.S. citizens is escalating and expanding. Since Trump took office the second time, at least five elected officials have been handcuffed, detained, or arrested standing up for immigrants, including Senator Padilla. A U.S. citizen, Job García, was briefly detained last month by ICE while filming at a Los Angeles Home Depot. In January, U.S. citizen Julio Noriega was arrested, handcuffed, and spent most of the night at an ICE processing center in suburban Chicago. He was never questioned about his citizenship and was only released after agents looked at his ID. ICE also has deported at least three U.S. citizen children with their undocumented parents. The current administration also is canceling the immigration status of more than 1 million immigrants who migrated to the U.S. legally. ICE is arresting non-criminal undocumented immigrants who lived here for decades and contribute to our society. Narciso Barranco, an undocumented gardener, was recently arrested and beaten in Orange County, Calif. He is father to three U.S. Marines. "I love serving my country. I think my brothers do as well, and it just infuriates us that our own country is doing this to our own people. What we fight for is justice, and we need a better pathway to fix all of this," one of Barranco's sons said in an interview. The president promised mass deportations, and to meet his quotas, ICE will keep arresting gardeners, day laborers, and other workers. All of us are vulnerable, especially if you are brown, "look like an immigrant," or look like you could be a Jose or Maria. When I renewed my passport several years ago, my mom told me to pay extra for the passport card. It's the size of a driver's license. I recently started carrying it in my wallet just in case I get picked up by ICE. I shouldn't have to do this when my family migrated from Mexico to Texas in 1890. There was no ICE or Border Patrol back then. My great grandfather paid a nickel to bring his horse and cart across the border with his family. But to ICE, I look like just another Maria. Teresa Puente is a journalist and journalism educator based in California. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.