ICE agents are making house calls for online critics

Key Points:

• David Streever received a warning notice from ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) after criticizing ICE leadership in an email, with DHS agents visiting his home and tracking him down at a hotel shortly after his return from Finland.
• DHS has been investigating and warning numerous individuals for social media posts and emails critical of ICE and its agents, equating criticism with threats and "doxing," despite no criminal charges being filed in many cases.
• Legal experts argue that DHS’s actions may violate First Amendment protections by retaliating against or intimidating critics rather than addressing actual threats, with the government using subpoenas to identify online critics.
• DHS claims a significant increase in threats and assaults against its agents, using these statistics to justify investigations and aggressive responses, although independent analyses question the validity of these figures.
• The broader pattern involves conflating dissent with criminal activity, as seen in prosecutions linked to protests and social media posts, raising concerns about government efforts to suppress free speech related to immigration policy criticism.