Apple removed applications that allowed users to signal sightings of US Immigration and Customs Service agents (ICE).
The technology giant told the BBC that it removed the iceblock from its app store after the police authorities warned it about “safety risks” associated with it and “similar applications.”
According to a statement sent to Fox News Digital, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, “demanded” the removal of the application, saying that it was “designed to put Ice agents at risk.”
The application creator said such allegations were “patently false” and accused Apple of “capitulating to an authoritarian regime.”
Iceblock is among several applications launched this year in response to President Trump’s repression of illegal immigration and the increase in ICE beats.
Critics – like the creator of Iceblock – accuse the government of abusing their powers and “taking terror” to the US streets.
The free application works showing the movements of immigration agents. It has been downloaded over a million times in the US.
However, Bondi argued that he was being used to reach Ice agents, with the FBI saying that the man who attacked an ICE installation in Dallas in September – killing two detainees – used similar applications to track the movements of agents and their vehicles.
In a statement, Apple said: “We created the App Store to be a safe and reliable place to discover applications.
“Based on the information we received from the police authorities about the safety risks associated with Iceblock, we remove this and other similar applications from the App Store.”
But his creator, Joshua Aaron, denied that it represented a threat.
“Iceblock is no different from crowdsourcing radars, used by all famous mapping applications, including the Apple Maps app,” he said.
“This is a discourse protected by the first amendment of the United States Constitution.”
Can the US government ban applications that track ICE agents?
Aaron, who worked in the technology industry for years, told BBC Verify that he developed the application due to concern for the increase in immigration beats.
“I certainly followed Trump’s first government and then heard rhetoric during the second campaign,” he said.
“My brain began to think about what would happen and what I could do to keep people safe.”
The White House and the FBI criticized the app after it was launched in April and the downloads increased.
Originally published by BBC News on 03/10/2025
By Liv McMahon – Technology Reporter
Additional Report: Josh Cheetham and Nick Beake
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2025/10/03/apple-retira-aplicativos-de-rastreamento-de-autoridades-de-imigracao-dos-eua/
