Ever since Donald Trump‘s second inauguration, millions of people across the country have had to keep looking over their shoulders. ICE has been officially let off the leash, with its agents given quotas to ensure they snatch as many people from homes, workplaces, public places, and houses of worship as they can.
If you’re in the country without permission, it’s time to go into hiding. If you’re here legally and claiming asylum, a judge’s order now doesn’t mean much. Heck, even naturalized green-card holders are growing increasingly paranoid.
Now, one developer has stepped in to launch a tool that alerts users when ICE is in their neighborhood, giving them the chance to go into hiding or simply leave the area altogether. It’s called ICEBlock, and is available for free on the App Store. The app allows its anonymous users to report ICE activity they witness, with others then able to see that pictured on a live map covering a five-mile radius.
trump, Stephen Miller, and Tom Homan are FURIOUS about this ICEBlock app, which informs folks where ICE is operating.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!
So you definitely shouldn't RT this like crazy, because it would make trump even madder. pic.twitter.com/55yJflWLFF(@mmpadellan) July 2, 2025
As developer Joshua Aaron told CNN: “When I saw what was happening in this country, I wanted to do something to fight back. We’re literally watching history repeat itself. … ICEBlock serves to ‘inform not obstruct’ and its goal is to allow people to avoid potentially harmful encounters with ICE.”
They want to shut it down, now
It’s already been a wild success, leaping to the top of the social networking app charts and garnering 70,000 users. The Trump administration is hopping mad, with Kristi Noem insisting, “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. What they’re doing is illegal.”
ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons claims the app is intended to provoke attacks on ICE agents, saying it “basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs” and describing it as “sickening”.
Unfortunately for both of them, simply reporting the location of ICE agents isn’t against the law (not that doing illegal stuff seems to be a problem for ICE, but whatever). Aaron is refusing to back down: “We will not be intimidated. As long as ICE agents have quotas, and this administration ignores people’s constitutional rights, we will continue fighting back. No human is illegal.”
Even if the app goes down, users have found ways of notifying the community about ICE being present in more subtle ways, like reporting “Icy conditions” as a traffic warning on Google Maps. Whatever the case, this is a fairly simple app that seems to fill a desperately needed role – and if they squash ICEBlock, we’re certain another open-source replacement will pop up to take its place.
