FIRE sues Bondi, Noem for censoring Facebook group and app reporting ICE activity

• The First Amendment protects the right to discuss, record, and criticize what law enforcement does in public.
• The federal government strong-armed Apple and Facebook to remove ICE activity monitoring from company platforms.
• It’s unconstitutional for the government to coerce private companies into censorship.

CHICAGO, Feb. 11, 2026 — Two concerned Midwesterners are fighting back after the platforms they created to report on public Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity were censored by government officials.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is suing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on behalf of Kae Rosado and Mark Hodges, who respectively created a Facebook group and an app that hosted video footage of ICE operations to inform the public and hold our government accountable. 

“As U.S. citizens, we have the right to keep each other informed about what our government officials are doing and how they’re doing it,” said Mark, who developed an app called Eyes Up that allows users to store and view videos of ICE activity nationwide. “Government transparency and accountability are fundamental in a free society.”

Mark runs Kreisau Group, which aims to preserve evidence of governmental abuses of power. On his Eyes Up app, users can upload videos, record new videos, or access uploaded videos, which Eyes Up arranges on a map of the United States after Mark and his moderators review and approve each video. 

Kae, who has her own jewelry business, started a Facebook group in January 2025 after seeing fear in her community about the impact of ICE raids on daily life in Chicago. She and other small business owners noticed attendance dropping at community events where they’d set up shop. The aim of the group — “ICE Sightings – Chicagoland” — was for fellow small business owners, friends, and family to share information about ICE operations in Chicago. The group remained small until Sept. 2025, when ICE commenced and publicly touted an enforcement surge in Chicago dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.” Chicagoans increasingly feared being injured or arrested, and Kae’s group grew to include nearly 100,000 members. 

COURTESY PHOTOS OF MARK AND KAE

Documenting and criticizing law enforcement are protected by the First Amendment, and it is unconstitutional for the government to coerce private companies like Apple and Facebook into censoring content on their behalf. However, in October, Bondi and Noem pressured Facebook to take down Kae’s group and Apple to remove Mark’s Eyes Up from its app store.

In a statement to Fox News, Bondi boasted on Oct. 2 that “We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so.” In fact, Apple had removed several ICE-related apps, including Eyes Up. Though Apple had closely examined and approved the app the month before, Apple now claimed that the app violated the app store’s prohibition on “mean-spirited” content.

Less than two weeks later, the same thing happened to Kae’s Facebook group. On Oct. 12, political activist Laura Loomer flagged Noem and Bondi in an X post identifying Kae’s group, falsely suggesting that it was “getting people killed.” Kae advocates nonviolence and created the group so members could stay informed and stay safe. She prohibited group members from posting anything threatening or promoting violence. Nevertheless, following outreach from Bondi’s Department of Justice, Facebook disabled her Facebook group the next day. Bondi claimed credit on X for the removal. 

“I care about my community, and I just want to make sure everyone is staying safe,” said Kae. “ICE activities are causing fear in the small business community, and we needed a place to share information in real time. By censoring our group, the government continues to erode our trust. They silenced not only my voice, but the voices of nearly 100,000 other community members.”

Noem and Bondi’s actions were blatantly unconstitutional. The First Amendment protects the right to discuss, record, and criticize what law enforcement does in public. According to the Supreme Court in Houston v. Hill, “to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.” 

The federal government has alleged efforts to track ICE agents puts law enforcement officers at risk. But courts have consistently held that speech concerning the public activities of law enforcement officers and other government employees — from warning fellow citizens of speed traps to publishing videos of law enforcement officers engaged in their duties — is protected by the First Amendment. 

“As we’ve seen across the country, especially in Minneapolis, citizen videos have informed discussion and debate about ICE’s operations and tactics,” said FIRE attorney Colin McDonell. “The right to share information about our government is essential to a free society. If someone goes out and commits a crime, they can and should be punished for their actions. But in a free society, we don’t punish protected speech.”

FIRE filed its lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois. The suit seeks a ruling that Bondi and Noem violated the First Amendment, as well as an injunction that would prevent them from taking similar actions going forward. 

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIRE educates Americans about the importance of these inalienable rights, promotes a culture of respect for these rights, and provides the means to preserve them.

CONTACT: 

Katie Stalcup, Communications Campaign Manager, FIRE: 215-717-3473; media@thefire.org