Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
- Apple has removed the immigration enforcement tracking app ICEBlock from the App Store.
- The app allows users to monitor and track the location of immigration enforcement agents.
- In a statement to Business Insider, Apple said the app was removed due to “safety risks.”
Apple has removed ICEBlock, an app that allowed users to monitor and report the location of immigration enforcement officers, from the App Store.
“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps,” Apple said in a statement to Business Insider. “Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store.”
The app developer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Apple has previously removed apps from the App Store at government insistence, including an app used by protesters in Hong Kong to track the location of law enforcement.
Fox News reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi requested that Apple remove ICEBlock.
“We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so,” Fox News reported Bondi said. “ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed. This Department of Justice will continue making every effort to protect our brave federal law enforcement officers, who risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe.”
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Related stories
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know
President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a firm stance against law enforcement tracking apps such as ICEBlock. Politico reported in July that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had suggested prosecuting CNN for publishing a report about the app.
Controversy surrounding similar apps has increased in recent weeks following a deadly shooting on September 24 at a Dallas ICE facility that left two men — detainees at the facility — dead, and a third injured.
A statement from the Department of Homeland Security said a sniper on a nearby rooftop fired indiscriminately at the ICE building, including at a van where the victims were shot.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
