--- title: "Apple defends removal of ICE tracking app to Congress" description: "Representative Jamie Raskin says the firm found no link between the app and a Dallas ICE shooting and demands a new review" author: "rews desk" published: 2026-09-29T17:41:13Z modified: 2026-09-30T01:11:24Z url: https://rews.cc/a/apple-says-agent-safety-fears-drove-removal-of-ice-tracking--1aa141 language: en tags: ["apple", "ice", "immigration", "privacy", "trump", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Apple defends removal of ICE tracking app to Congress *Representative Jamie Raskin says the firm found no link between the app and a Dallas ICE shooting and demands a new review* By rews desk · September 29, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/apple-says-agent-safety-fears-drove-removal-of-ice-tracking--1aa141 ## In brief - Apple tells Rep. Jamie Raskin it pulled ICEBlock over ICE agent safety, not political pressure - Raskin says there is no evidence linking the app to a Dallas ICE shooting, demands new review - DHS says assaults on ICE officers rose 1,649%, to 647 incidents, since January 2025 - ICEBlock creator Joshua Aaron is suing Bondi and other officials over the app’s removal - Apple has not commented further; ICEBlock remains unavailable on the App Store Apple told U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, in a July letter that it removed the ICEBlock app and similar services tracking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from the App Store in October 2025 because of concerns for officer safety, according to a copy of the letter first reported by CNN. Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, responded in a letter sent Monday saying Apple’s justification did not hold up and that the company may be “working with the government to violate its customers’ First Amendment rights to record and report on the activities of their own government.” > There appears to be no direct connection between the Dallas incident and the apps you removed. Raskin wrote that the gunman in a September 2025 shooting at a Dallas ICE facility “is reported to have found the address using an app that comes standard on Apple devices,” which remains available, and asked Apple to supply a full list of apps it removed at the Justice Department’s request and to conduct a new, independent review of the decisions. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, stood by its view that the tracking apps endanger officers. “Our law officers are facing an over 1,600% increase in assaults, a 3,300% increase in vehicle attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats,” a DHS spokesperson said Monday, adding that the apps “interfere with law enforcement activities and harbor illegal aliens.” In a separate [statement issued September 24](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/09/24/dhs-calls-sanctuary-politicians-stop-violent-rhetoric-against-ice-assaults-increase), DHS said assaults on ICE personnel rose 1,649%, to 647 incidents from January 2025 to September 2026, compared with 37 in the equivalent period under the Biden administration. ICEBlock let users drop a pin when they saw ICE agents operating nearby, sending a push alert to other users within five miles. Similar apps followed. Creator Joshua Aaron and the app’s supporters said it worked much like Apple and Google maps that let drivers flag police speed traps, and Aaron has called claims the app was meant to harm officers “patently false.” Apple approved ICEBlock in April 2025 after Aaron addressed “certain user privacy concerns,” the company told Raskin, and it was “attentive” to backlash the app drew in the following months. After the Dallas shooting, which killed two detainees before the gunman took his own life, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi “expressed serious concerns to Apple that ICEBlock posed a threat to the safety of federal officers,” Apple wrote. Apple ultimately cited [App Review Guideline 1.1.1](https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/29/apple-explains-why-it-removed-ice-tracking-apps/), telling Aaron the app’s purpose was to provide “location information about law enforcement officers that can be used to harm such officers individually or as a group.” Aaron and his company sued Bondi, then-DHS Secretary and other officials in December 2025, arguing the government unconstitutionally pressured Apple into removing ICEBlock and retaliated against him for creating it. The [case](https://www.eff.org/cases/aaron-v-bondi), backed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and law firm Sher Tremonte, is pending in federal court in Washington. The officials have moved to dismiss it, denying they were directly responsible for the removal. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Raskin’s latest letter. ICEBlock has not returned to the App Store, and Raskin’s investigation, which also covers Google’s Play Store, continues. ## See also - [DHS: "Radical Rhetoric by Sanctuary Politicians Leads to an Unprecedented 1,300% Increase in Assaults"](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/01/08/radical-rhetoric-sanctuary-politicians-leads-unprecedented-1300-increase-assaults) — dhs.gov · Earlier DHS release, from January 2026, citing a 1,300% assault increase - [2025 Dallas ICE facility shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Dallas_ICE_facility_shooting) — en.wikipedia.org · Background on the shooting Apple cited in its letter to Raskin - [DHS Assault Cases Spiked to a Record High](https://www.pogo.org/investigates/dhs-assault-cases-spiked-to-a-record-high-experts-and-judges-have-raised-alarms) — pogo.org · Investigative look questioning how DHS's assault statistics are compiled - [Free Speech, Jawboning, and Aaron v. Bondi](https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/free-speech-jawboning-and-aaron-v-bondi-did-government-coercion-stifle-iceblocks-availability/) — aei.org · Analysis of whether government pressure on Apple amounted to unlawful coercion ## Sources - [Apple explains why it removed ICE tracking apps from its app store](https://cnn.com/2026/09/29/tech/apple-iceblock-app-removal-raskin) — cnn.com - [Apple Tells Congress Real-Time ICE Tracking Apps Created a "Roadmap for Violence" - Gadget Review](https://gadgetreview.com/apple-tells-congress-real-time-ice-tracking-apps-created-a-roadmap-for-violence) — gadgetreview.com - [Apple Explains Why It Removed ICE Tracking Apps Last Year](https://macrumors.com/2026/09/29/apple-explains-why-it-removed-ice-tracking-apps/) — macrumors.com