Judge determines Trump administration breached the First Amendment in battle against ICE-monitoring

Jorge L. Alonso, a judge in the federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois, stated that the Trump Administration breached the First Amendment when it pressured Facebook and Apple into removing ICE-monitoring groups and applications. Judge Alonso issued a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs, Kassandra Rosado, who operates the ICE Sightings – Chicagoland Facebook group, and the Kreisau Group, developers of Eyes Up.

Judge Alonso referenced a unanimous Supreme Court ruling from a 2024 case where the NRA challenged the former head of the New York Department of Financial Services, Maria Vullo. In that scenario, the court determined that “[g]overnment officials cannot attempt to coerce private entities to punish or suppress beliefs that the government finds unfavorable,” when Vullo urged firms to sever ties with the NRA. Alonso’s ruling continues, stating, “In this case, [Pam] Bondi and [Kristi] Noem did precisely that. They contacted Facebook and Apple and insisted, rather than asked, that Facebook and Apple silence Plaintiff’s speech.”

With regard to the ICE Sightings Facebook group, former Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed on X that an unnamed group “being utilized to dox and target” ICE agents had been eliminated after the DOJ communicated with Meta. Eyes Up, ICEBlock, Red Dot, and other analogous applications have also been removed from app stores, following pressure from the DOJ and public threats of prosecution, including against CNN simply for reporting on the app’s existence.

It is probable that the government will contest this ruling, and the battle will persist. However, the unanimous precedent established by the Supreme Court in 2024 indicates that the Trump administration is likely to encounter significant challenges.