Meta removes Facebook Group for tracking ICE agents after DOJ pressure

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that the Department of Justice contacted Facebook in order to have a group removed that she claimed “was being used to dox and target” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operating in Chicago. We reached out to Meta for confirmation and a representative said, “This Group was removed for violating our policies against coordinated harm,” however they did not confirm the name of the group or whether the DOJ was involved in the action. 

Officers for the immigration agency have reportedly been moving through Chicago with facial coverings, no name tags and sometimes in vehicles with no license plates, although a US District Judge ruled that all ICE agents who are not undercover are required to display visible identification while operating in the Chicagoland area. 

The Department of Justice has demanded that other tech companies remove content the current administration has deemed critical of its immigration policies and practices. At the start of the month, Apple removed ICEBlock, an app for tracking the movements of immigration agents, from the App Store following similar pressure from Bondi. “Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move,” ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron said in an interview following the action. “Our mission has always been to protect our neighbors from the terror this administration continues to reign down on the people of this nation.”