BBC News reports:

The US government and law enforcement agencies have hit out at developers and users of apps which track Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arguing they threaten the lives of agents.

The FBI says the man who targeted an ICE facility in Dallas – killing two detainees – had used these types of apps to track the movements of agents and their vehicles.

A tracking app downloaded more than a million times that shows the movements of immigration officers was removed from Apple’s App Store on Thursday.

ICE Block was released in April following the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The creator of the app told the BBC that Apple was “capitulating to an authoritarian regime”.

The White House and the FBI had argued the app put the lives of law enforcement at risk.

Special Agent Joseph Rothrock said: “It’s no different than giving a hitman the location of their intended target” – a claim which has been disputed by the developer of one of the most popular apps.

BBC Verify has been looking at what the apps do and the potential impact they are having.

How do the ICE-tracking apps work?
A number of apps have been released this year in response to President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and an upsurge in ICE raids.

The apps allow people to report the presence of ICE agents in their local areas which are then marked on a map to warn other users.

The most popular is ICEBlock, which was released in April and has been downloaded more than one million times.

It – and several other ICE-tracking apps – were abruptly removed from the Apple Store amid criticism from the Trump administration.

“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps. Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store,” Apple said in a statement.

Joshua Aaron – who has worked in the tech industry for years – told BBC Verify why he developed ICEBlock.

“I certainly watched pretty closely during Trump’s first administration and then I listened to the rhetoric during the campaign for the second. My brain started firing on what was going to happen and what I could do to keep people safe”, he said.

In July, US Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Mr Aaron of “threatening the lives of our law enforcement officers throughout this country.”

“We are looking at him, and he better watch out,” she added.

Mr Aaron said he was undeterred.

“Anything that challenges what they’re doing in this country and to this country, they’re going to push back on… but they’re not going to intimidate me. ICEBlock will be here for as long as it’s necessary.”

And he said specific criticism of him following the Dallas shooting was unjustified.

“You don’t need to use an app to tell you where an ICE agent is when you’re aiming at an ICE detention facility. Everybody knows that’s where ICE agents are.”

After the app was removed by Apple, Mr Aaron said he was “incredibly disappointed” and denied that the app could impact the security of law enforcement, which Apple had cited in its reasoning. He vowed to fight the move. [Continue reading…]