NOTE: VIDEO AT THE END OF ARTICLE
Tom Homan, former ICE director and current White House Border Czar, publicly criticized CNN on Monday for promoting an app that allows users to report the real-time location of federal immigration agents.
The app, called ICEBlock, functions as a crowdsourced map where users can tag sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. CNN’s coverage of the app, which aired earlier the same day, featured technology reporter Clare Duffy explaining how the app operates and noting that the developer claims it is meant to help people avoid agents, not interfere with them.
Homan was outraged by both the existence of the app and CNN’s decision to spotlight it. He called the app “simply disgusting” and said its promotion puts federal law enforcement officers at serious risk.
“It’s only a matter of time before ICE officers are ambushed,” Homan said, referencing past attacks on federal agents including a Molotov cocktail incident in Los Angeles. “Any network that covers that is disgusting as well.”
He urged the Department of Justice to investigate the developers and distribution of the app, arguing that ICE officers are already performing high-risk operations and shouldn’t be further endangered by public tools that expose their movements.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Homan’s concerns during her Monday briefing, saying, “It’s unacceptable that a major network would promote such an app that is encouraging violence against law enforcement officers who are trying to keep our country safe.”
Leavitt also called the app a potential form of incitement, warning that it could inspire violence against ICE agents, whose job it is to remove public safety threats and protect national security.
CNN reporter Clare Duffy had emphasized that the app developer insisted it wasn’t meant to incite confrontation. “He does not want people interfering with officers’ activity, but he does want people to be able to avoid them altogether,” Duffy explained.
The app reportedly sends push alerts to users within a five-mile radius when someone reports an ICE agent’s location.
Homan responded by saying, “This shouldn’t be a partisan issue.” He noted that assaults on ICE officers have increased by 500 percent and called it disgraceful that law enforcement personnel are being vilified for doing their jobs.
“These agents are going after some of the worst offenders,” Homan said. “And now we’re putting them in more danger. It’s disgusting.”
