Republicans want Big Tech to stop hosting DHS enforcement-tracking apps
The House Homeland Security Committee is investigating apps hosted by Big Tech companies that enable individuals to track law enforcement members, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.
Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., and Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., who leads the Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability subcommittee, sent letters Friday to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressing concern, warning of “serious risks” to Department of Homeland Security personnel and inquiring about the measures taken to remove these applications from their platforms.
The apps work by users, often anonymously, reporting sightings of law enforcement in their area. The data is then shared to others on the platform. The majority members tasked the tech CEOs with providing a briefing no later than this Friday.
“The Committee is concerned that these apps not only jeopardize the safety of DHS personnel but also enable malicious actors to incite violence and obstruct lawful government operations,” the Republican members said in the letters. Apple and Google did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.
The inquiry comes amid increasing cooperation between Big Tech companies and the federal government.
One of the apps used to report the location of DHS agents, called ICEBlock, was removed from app stores following “intervention from the U.S. Department of Justice” earlier this year, according to the letters. The app was tied to the deadly shooting at an ICE facility in September.
Red Dot and DeICER are two other apps that have been taken down in the past year. Meta also reportedly shuttered a Chicago-based Facebook group where users posted ICE sightings, after the DOJ reached out to the company.
The takedowns of forums and apps have raised concerns around censorship. ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron sued Trump administration officials Monday, the New York Times reported. The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit last month against the DOJ and DHS regarding the agencies’ role in the removal of such apps.
“To be clear, the Committee is a strong supporter of all Americans’ right to free speech,” the Republican lawmakers said in the Friday letters. “However, that right is not absolute.”
Federal agencies have continued to get closer to Big Tech companies in the past year as executive orders pushed agencies to form emerging tech partnerships with private companies.
DHS partnered with Palantir to create ImmigrationOS, a system to help ICE with deportations. The agency has also explored AI technologies from OpenAI, Microsoft, Google and others, according to a revised version of its 2024 AI use case inventory released in July.
Technology will keep playing a critical role in DHS operations next year. In its fiscal 2026 budget, the agency earmarked $40 million for the development, deployment and integration of advanced biometric tools.
