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.
