Joshua Aaron, creator of the Iceblock app for crowd-sourcing Immigration and Customs Enforcement sightings, has filed a lawsuit against top Trump administration officials. He accuses them of pressuring Apple to remove the app from the App Store in violation of the First Amendment. The suit seeks to restore the app and block any criminal investigations against its users.
On December 8, 2025, Joshua Aaron filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, White House Border Czar Thomas D. Homan, and unnamed others. The complaint alleges that these officials used regulatory power and unlawful threats to coerce Apple into removing Iceblock from the App Store in October 2025, suppressing protected speech.
Aaron developed Iceblock in January 2025 to help communities track ICE activities amid Trump's mass deportation plans, which referenced deporting 15 to 20 million undocumented immigrants despite lower actual numbers. After initial vetting, Apple approved the app in April. It gained hundreds of thousands of users following a June CNN profile. The app includes a disclaimer against inciting violence and auto-deletes sightings after four hours to prevent tracking.
Trump officials quickly criticized the app. Bondi, in a Fox News interview, boasted about demanding its removal, calling CNN's coverage dangerous while praising Fox's warnings. Noem stated officials would "go after" those avoiding law enforcement. Lyons claimed it painted targets on officers amid a 500 percent assault increase. Homan called for investigating CNN. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt linked it to a September 24, 2025, shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas without evidence.
Apple removed Iceblock citing safety risks from law enforcement information but did not distinguish it from apps like Waze or Apple Maps that crowd-source police locations. The app remains usable for prior downloaders, but updates are blocked. Aaron seeks an injunction to restore it and protect free speech.
"I created Iceblock to keep communities safe," Aaron said. Lawyer Deirdre von Dornum warned that silencing information sharing endangers democracy. Noam Biale called Bondi's claims an admission of rights violations. Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Mario Trujillo noted Supreme Court precedents protecting such documentation, urging Apple to reconsider its capitulation.
The suit argues Iceblock protects against ICE's documented civil rights violations, including arrests of citizens and harm to children. Aaron, a former Apple Mac Genius raised in a Jewish household influenced by Holocaust stories, aims to hold officials accountable and prevent future censorship.