ICE's threat to critic 'likely violates' First Amendment, judge says - USA Today
A federal judge ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop threatening a New York man over a January email he wrote criticizing the agency over its response to protests in Minnesota.
The matter stems from David Streever’s email to then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons over immigration officers killing two people – Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti – earlier that month. Streever called Lyons a “monstrous human being,” compared him to Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich and said he would “never know peace,” among other statements, according to court records.
In June, immigration officers knocked on his door while he was abroad and handed his wife a warning notice for "criminal activities," according to the federal lawsuit Streever filed against ICE and Department of Homeland Security officials, including DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in July.
His wife said he was out of town, and upon his return to the country days later, he checked into a New York City hotel with his daughter; officers tracked down his hotel and dropped off a business card, and they left voicemails on his cellphone, according to the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras’ Sept. 15 opinion said ICE’s notice threatened prosecution against Streever if he continued such criticism and that it “likely violates” Streever’s First Amendment right to free speech.
“Mr. Streever has a right to express his political views through non-threatening speech, however degrading the speech might be,” Contreras wrote.
He also said the threat of a federal investigation or prosecution “looms over him (Streever) like the sword of Damocles, and he is forced to self-censor under that threat.”
Streever said he was “deeply relieved” by the decision in a Sept. 15 news release from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is representing him in the case.
“While I wish this ordeal hadn’t happened, hopefully this incident will serve as a reminder that the First Amendment protects us all,” he said.
FIRE senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh said government criticism is “at the heart of the First Amendment.”
“Ominous letters warning people their speech might land them in prison are meant to coerce people into silence, and that’s not how the First Amendment works,” he said.
Contreras' order bars the defendants from "relying on the Warning Notice, issuing similar threats or making good on the threats in the Warning Notice." He granted a two-week stay to allow time for a potential appeal, at which point the order will automatically go into effect.
“Any allegation DHS and its components are attempting to ‘squash’ free speech is categorically FALSE," DHS said in an email to USA TODAY. "ICE investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director."
DHS said law enforcement officers are "experiencing coordinated campaigns of violence against them," referencing the agency's data reporting a rise in assaults, vehicular attacks and death threats against officers.
“Anyone who assaults or threatens our law enforcement officers will face the consequences,” DHS said.
BrieAnna Frank's role covering First Amendment issues at USA TODAY is made possible by a collaboration among Freedom Forum, Journalism Funding Partners and the USA TODAY Network. Freedom Forum does not provide editorial input. Reach BrieAnna at bjfrank@usatoday.com and @brieannafrank on X and Bluesky.
