Latest news with #IceBlock
Euronews
2 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
What to know about ICEBlock, an app that tracks US immigration agents
A new app that allows users to anonymously share the locations of immigration agents in the United States is gaining popularity – and backlash from the Trump administration. Called IceBlock, the free app allows users to share sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who investigate and arrest people suspected of entering the US illegally. It launched in April and rose to the top of Apple's US App Store this week. App users can report and view sightings of ICE officials within a five-mile radius. IceBlock says it does not store any personal data, so it is 'impossible to trace reports back to individual users'. The number of detentions by ICE has increased dramatically since President Donald Trump took office. In May, the White House demanded that ICE arrest 3,000 people per day. At least 56,000 immigrants are being held in ICE detention, and half of them do not have criminal convictions, according to the Deportation Data Project, a group that collects immigration numbers. Several people have died in ICE detention. ICEBlock's maker Joshua Aaron, who has worked in the tech industry for two decades, told NBC this week: 'When I saw what was happening in this country, I really just wanted to do something to help fight back'. 'I grew up in a Jewish household, and being part of the Jewish community, I had the chance to meet Holocaust survivors and learn the history of what happened in Nazi Germany, and the parallels that we can draw between what's happening right now in our country and Hitler's rise to power are undeniable,' he added. The Trump administration raised concerns earlier this week about the app's potential to be used to target immigration agents. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and ICE acting Director Todd M. Lyons said on Tuesday they were worried about ICE agents' safety, citing a recent '500 per cent increase in assaults' against agents carrying out immigration enforcement activities. The administration also hit back at CNN for reporting on the app. 'What they're doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations,' said Kristi Noem, head of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE. Noem said she will work with the US Department of Justice to see if the Trump administration can 'prosecute' CNN. Aaron described the threat as 'another right-wing fear-mongering scare tactic'. Meanwhile, DHS has built a national citizenship database that uses information from immigration agencies and the Social Security Administration, NPR reported last week. It was designed for election officials to ensure that only citizens are voting, but NPR reported that an election expert raised concerns about what else it could be used for.
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Kristi Noem claims cannibal illegal immigrant ‘started to eat himself' during deportation flight
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed on Tuesday that an illegal immigrant cannibal suddenly 'started to eat himself' while he was being deported. The 53-year-old revealed the alleged incident during a visit to the 'Alligator Alcatraz' deportation camp in the Everglades, Florida, alongside President Donald Trump, the New York Post reported. US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds up a sign encouraging undocumented migrants to "self-deport" during a roundtable discussion as she visits a migrant detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," located at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida, on July 1, 2025(AFP) Sharing details about the disturbing anecdote, Noem said that the federal agents had nabbed the cannibal illegal migrant, who started to eat his own arms during the deportation flight. She argued that the federal agents were targeting the worst illegal migrants in the United States. Noem said she learned about the cannibal immigrant while talking to Marshals, who had partnered with the ICE. The officials told the Homeland Security Secretary that they detained a cannibal and put him on the flight back home, but the person started to eat himself while in his seat. Ultimately, officials had to get him off the plane and get urgent medical attention for the person. Noem noted that these were the kind of 'deranged individuals' who are on the streets of America. She added that the Trump administration was trying to target them and get them out of the country 'because they are so deranged, they don't belong here.' The detention center in Florida is surrounded by alligator and python-infested swampland. The facility came up in a mere eight days after the US government accepted the state's offer to utilise the 39-square-mile land for the mass deportation effort. The facility is built on an old airfield site, in Ochopee, west of Miami. Kristi Noem threatens legal action against CNN Speaking to reporters, Noem informed that her department, along with the Department of Justice, was looking at prosecuting CNN for reporting on the IceBlock app, which allows users to track activities of immigration detention officials and try to avoid them. She said her department was 'working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them,' reported CNN. 'What they're doing is illegal.' The threat comes amid the Trump administration's major crackdown on illegal immigrants across the country. ALSO READ: DHS under fire for 'disgusting and mean' Alligator Alcatraz meme, 'Kristi Noem should be in jail for posting this' FAQs: 1. Where is Alligator Alcatraz located? The detention facility is 37 miles from Miami in a vast wetland filled with alligators, crocodiles, and pythons. 2. How many people can be kept at Alligator Alcatraz? The facility in Florida's Everglades region can house up to 5,000 people, according to The Daily Beast. 3. Why was the deportation camp made? It is part of the major push by Republican states in helping Donald Trump fulfil the campaign promise of carrying out the biggest deportation program in the country.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump team threatens to prosecute CNN over reporting on Ice-tracking app
Donald Trump and administration officials have threatened CNN over what they said was its promotion of a new app that allows users to track and try to avoid Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. Speaking to reporters in Florida on a trip to visit a new Ice detention center in Everglades, dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz', Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem said her department and the Department of Justice were looking at prosecuting CNN over its reporting on the app, called IceBlock. 'We're working with Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them,' Noem said, 'because what they're doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations. We're going to actually go after them and prosecute them. What they're doing is illegal.' Trump joined in, saying the news network – a frequent target of his ire – should also be prosecuted for what he said were 'false reports on the attack on Iran', referring to the leak of a Pentagon assessment that suggested US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program and had likely only set the program back by months. 'They were totally obliterated,' Trump countered. 'Our people have to be celebrated, [and] not come home to, 'What do you mean we didn't hit the targets?'' The comments came hours after Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, also criticized CNN for its reporting on the IceBlock app. 'It's disgusting,' Homan said during an appearance on rightwing commentator Benny Johnson's internet show. 'I can't believe we live in a world where the men and women in law enforcement are the bad guys. It's already a dangerous job.' Homan had been asked about the app, which was created to report sightings of Ice agents in any given area. Software developer Joshua Aaron recently told CNN that he'd launched the app 'when I saw what was happening in this country'. 'I wanted to do something to fight back,' Aaron said, telling the network that the administration's deportation efforts were, to him, reminiscent of Nazi Germany. 'We're literally watching history repeat itself,' Aaron said. Homan also suggested CNN was complicit in putting federal law enforcement in danger. 'This is horrendous that a national media outlet would be out there trying to forecast law enforcement operations,' he said. 'I think DoJ needs to look at this. They're crossing that line.' He added: 'We need to send a strong message that we need to protect the law enforcement officers.' Trump is engaged in a number of lawsuits with media companies, including legal action against CBS/Paramount Global over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, which, the lawsuit alleges, was deceptively edited to favor experts and other legal observers say the edit was standard journalistic practice. A lawsuit against ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos for stating he had been found liable for 'rape' in a civil case, when he was actually found liable for sexual abuse, was settled after ABC agreed to pay $15m to Trump's foundation. The threat over the IceBlock app comes as Noem is seen on US television networks promoting a customs and border patrol app that encourages illegal immigrants to register with the agency and leave the country.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump team threatens to prosecute CNN over reporting on Ice-tracking app
Donald Trump and administration officials have threatened CNN over what they said was its promotion of a new app that allows users to track and try to avoid Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. Speaking to reporters in Florida on a trip to visit a new Ice detention center in Everglades, dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz', Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem said her department and the Department of Justice were looking at prosecuting CNN over its reporting on the app, called IceBlock. 'We're working with Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them,' Noem said, 'because what they're doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations. We're going to actually go after them and prosecute them. What they're doing is illegal.' Trump joined in, saying the news network – a frequent target of his ire – should also be prosecuted for what he said were 'false reports on the attack on Iran', referring to the leak of a Pentagon assessment that suggested US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program and had likely only set the program back by months. 'They were totally obliterated,' Trump countered. 'Our people have to be celebrated, [and] not come home to, 'What do you mean we didn't hit the targets?'' The comments came hours after Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, also criticized CNN for its reporting on the IceBlock app. 'It's disgusting,' Homan said during an appearance on rightwing commentator Benny Johnson's internet show. 'I can't believe we live in a world where the men and women in law enforcement are the bad guys. It's already a dangerous job.' Homan had been asked about the app, which was created to report sightings of Ice agents in any given area. Software developer Joshua Aaron recently told CNN that he'd launched the app 'when I saw what was happening in this country'. 'I wanted to do something to fight back,' Aaron said, telling the network that the administration's deportation efforts were, to him, reminiscent of Nazi Germany. 'We're literally watching history repeat itself,' Aaron said. Homan also suggested CNN was complicit in putting federal law enforcement in danger. 'This is horrendous that a national media outlet would be out there trying to forecast law enforcement operations,' he said. 'I think DoJ needs to look at this. They're crossing that line.' He added: 'We need to send a strong message that we need to protect the law enforcement officers.' Trump is engaged in a number of lawsuits with media companies, including legal action against CBS/Paramount Global over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, which, the lawsuit alleges, was deceptively edited to favor experts and other legal observers say the edit was standard journalistic practice. A lawsuit against ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos for stating he had been found liable for 'rape' in a civil case, when he was actually found liable for sexual abuse, was settled after ABC agreed to pay $15m to Trump's foundation. The threat over the IceBlock app comes as Noem is seen on US television networks promoting a customs and border patrol app that encourages illegal immigrants to register with the agency and leave the country.
NZ Herald
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Gisborne's Ice Block electronic music winter rave returns to Smash Palace with top DJs and climate theme
BrazilBeat Sound System, pictured at Smash Palace in Gisborne, will headline the upcoming Ice Block rave next month. The local artist lineup at an upcoming electronic music rave will bring the heat during the depths of winter at Gisborne's Smash Palace. Ice Block will feature two stages of music (one indoor, one outdoor) and visual projections with an overarching theme of climate change and its effects on the
