Overview
- David Streever filed a federal lawsuit Monday in Washington, D.C., saying ICE and DHS agents violated his First Amendment rights after confronting him about a three‑paragraph email he sent on Jan. 26 criticizing then‑acting ICE leadership.
- Streever says two Homeland Security Investigations agents went to his Rochester home on June 23, handed his wife a written “warning notice” saying he may have violated federal law, then tracked him to a New York City hotel and left voicemails when he returned from Finland.
- The warning notice cited federal statutes against threats and doxxing, which ICE and DHS say they use to investigate credible threats to officers, while the lawsuit argues the email contained no true threat and the five‑month delay shows the response was not urgent.
- Civil‑liberties groups and Streever’s lawyers say the contacts chilled lawful political speech and caused him and his family anxiety and self‑censorship, and the New York attorney general’s office is reviewing the contacts.
- The case arrives alongside at least one similar June encounter reported in upstate New York and will force courts to define how far the government may go when probing criticism of law enforcement officers and agency leaders.