Jorge L. Alonso, a federal district court judge for the Northern District of Illinois, said that the Trump Administration violated the First Amendment when it pressured Facebook and Apple to remove ICE-tracking groups and apps. Judge Alonso granted the plaintiffs, Kassandra Rosado, who runs the ICE Sightings – Chicagoland Facebook group, and Kreisau Group, the developers of Eyes Up, a preliminary injunction.
Judge Alonso cited a unanimous Supreme Court decision from a 2024 case that pitted the NRA against the former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, Maria Vullo. In that case, the court ruled that “[g]overnment officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors,” when Vullo pressured companies to end their business relationships with the NRA. Alonso’s decision continues, saying, “Here, [Pam] Bondi and [Kristi] Noem did exactly that. They reached out to Facebook and Apple and demanded, rather than requested, that Facebook and Apple censor Plaintiff’s speech.”
In the case of the ICE Sightings Facebook group, then Attorney General Pam Bondi, bragged on X that an unnamed group “being used to dox and target” ICE agents had been taken down after the DOJ reached out to Meta. Eyes Up, ICEBlock, Red Dot, and other similar apps have been removed from app stores as well, following pressure from the DOJ and public threats of prosecution, including of CNN for simply reporting on the app’s existence.
It’s likely that the government will appeal this decision, and the fight will continue. But the unanimous nature of the precedent set by the Supreme Court in 2024 suggests the Trump administration is facing an uphill battle.