• 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.”

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. 

Full Post @ Foundation for Individual Rights & Expression https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-sues-bondi-noem-censoring-facebook-group-and-app-reporting-ice-activity

January 24, 2026By//  by Bryan Strawser

We are deeply concerned by this morning’s reports that a federal law enforcement operation in Minneapolis resulted in the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal agents. According to local officials, the man was legally armed, a firearm was recovered at the scene, and he is believed to have been a lawful gun owner and permit to carry holder.

Many critical facts remain unknown.

We do not yet have an independent account of what initiated the encounter or what triggered the use of deadly force. Despite widespread speculation regarding intent, there has been no evidence produced indicating an intent to harm the officers. We are calling for a full and transparent investigation by both state and federal authorities.

Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms—including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights. These rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed, and they must be respected and protected at all times.

Source:MN Gunowners Caucus https://gunowners.mn/press-release-shooting-death-alex-pretti/

Lawsuit comes nearly a week after ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Minneapolis woman during federal operation.

Greg Wehner Reports @ FOX NEWS

Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Trump administration Monday, seeking to block a massive federal immigration enforcement surge they say has flooded the Twin Cities with armed agents, sparked fear and unrest, and interfered with state and local authorities, according to court filings.

The lawsuit names Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, top officials with DHS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, along with the federal agencies themselves.

“We’re here to announce a lawsuit we’re filing against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to end the unlawful, unprecedented surge of the federal law enforcement agents into Minnesota,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said during a news conference Monday. “We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law.”

Ellison said the deployment of thousands of armed and masked DHS agents to Minnesota has done “serious harm” to the state, calling for what he described as a “federal invasion” of the Twin Cities and Minnesota to stop.

The plaintiffs accuse federal immigration agents of carrying out militarized raids across the Twin Cities, including stops at schools and hospitals, engaging in racial profiling, warrantless arrests and excessive force, and overwhelming local law enforcement, while claiming the operation was politically motivated retaliation rather than legitimate immigration enforcement.

“DHS agents have sown chaos and terror across the metropolitan area,” Ellison said. “Schools have gone [into] lockdown. Entire districts have had to cancel school for tens of thousands of students to ensure safety and offer online education.”

“Local businesses are struggling,” he added. “Revenues are down, and some retail stores, daycares and restaurants have actually closed because people are afraid to go out.”

The lawsuit comes nearly a week after an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman during a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis.

Full Report @ Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/us/minnesota-sues-trump-admin-over-sweeping-immigration-raids-twin-cities

The American Bar Association has adopted Resolution 509, to oppose federal government actions intended to intimidate law firms that represent clients disfavored by the current administration:

RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association opposes any efforts by any government
actor to punish or threaten to punish lawyers, law firms, or other organizations for
representing or having represented any particular client or cause disfavored by the
government;
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the legal profession, lawyers, and law firms should ensure
that counsel is available to those who need it, and especially to clients who cannot afford
to pay for counsel;
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association supports the rights of
lawyers and their clients to freedom of speech, to access to the courts, and to petition the
government for redress under the Constitution;
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association opposes government actions
adversely targeting individual lawyers and law firms, or the legal profession in general,
based upon lawyers’, and law firms’ engagement in constitutionally protected advocacy
on behalf of clients; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association opposes public officials’
threats or efforts to impeach judges based solely on disagreement with the merits of the
rulings made by those judges.

Adopted by the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association August 11-12, 2024

Source, with report explaining why the resolution was needed @ https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/directories/policy/annual-2025/509-annual-2025.pdf

Judge William Young wrote a book-length order attacking “the problem this President has with the First Amendment.” Matthew Petti @ Reason.com reports

President Donald Trump often channels former President Ronald Reagan, down to his signature slogan, “make America great again.” But Judge William Young, who was appointed by Reagan himself, cited Reagan’s legacy as a total rebuke to Trump’s ruling philosophy. “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction,” Young wrote in a ruling filed on Tuesday, quoting a speech by Reagan.

“I’ve come to believe that President Trump truly understands and appreciates the full import of President Reagan’s inspiring message—yet I fear he has drawn from it a darker, more cynical message,” Young warned. “I fear President Trump believes the American people are so divided that today they will not stand up, fight for, and defend our most precious constitutional values so long as they are lulled into thinking their own personal interests are not affected.”

Young’s ruling came in response to one of the Trump administration’s signature policies, its attempts to shut down Palestinian solidarity protests by deporting Palestinian students and their supporters. The American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association sued a few days after the arrest of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, arguing that the policy violates freedom of speech, both by intimidating foreign academics in America and preventing American academics “from hearing from, and associating with, their noncitizen students and colleagues.”

Ruling that administration officials indeed “acted in concert to misuse the sweeping powers of their respective offices to target non-citizen pro-Palestinians for deportation primarily on account of their First Amendment protected political speech,” Young promised to hold a hearing on the specific measures he will order. He wrote that “it will not do simply to order the Public Officials to cease and desist in the future,” given the current political environment.

What seems to have set off Young was a postcard from a hater: “Trump has pardons and tanks…What do you have?” Young attached a photocopy of the postcard to the top of his ruling, and dedicated the ruling to disproving the writer. “Alone, I have nothing but my sense of duty. Together, We the People of the United States—you and me—have our magnificent Constitution. Here’s how that works out in a specific case,” he wrote, inviting the letter writer to visit his courthouse at the end of the ruling.

Complete Post by Matthew Petti @ Reason.com https://reason.com/2025/10/01/reagan-appointed-judge-slams-trumps-crackdown-on-pro-palestinian-students/