CHICAGO — The founder of one of the Chicago area’s most popular pages for reporting ICE sightings filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday against top Trump officials, claiming they pressured Facebook into removing the page last year.
Attorneys for Kae Rosado, a jewelry seller from suburban Cicero, wrote in a complaint that her First Amendment rights were violated when Facebook disabled “ICE Sighting-Chicagoland” in October “without notice.”
The page — which swelled to more than 80,000 members in one of the most active months of “Operation Midway Blitz” — encouraged residents to post photos, videos and reports of federal immigration agents across the city and suburbs. It was taken down two days after right-wing activist and fierce Trump ally Laura Loomer posted on social media that the page was “getting people killed,” and shortly before U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed online that the page had been used to “dox and target” agents.
The lawsuit names Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as defendants, alleging Bondi “claimed credit” for removing the page while citing a post by Noem saying the page was removed thanks to the Justice Department.
Rosado’s page was intended for “sharing information so people concerned for their safety can avoid areas where ICE is operating,” according to the lawsuit. The suit claims Facebook had only previously removed five of its thousands of posts for “participant violations,” and that Rosado and other volunteers moderated content and prohibited “hate speech or bullying.”
A screen grab of the former “ICE Sighting” was posted online by far-right activist Lara Loomer prior to the page being taken down by Facebook.
“Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem want to control what the public can see, hear, or say about ICE operations,” the lawsuit reads. “That’s unconstitutional.”
Officials with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday.
Rosado is joined in the lawsuit by Mark Hodges, an Indiana man whose “Eyes Up” app, a collection of ICE activity videos from across the country, was taken down by Apple’s App Store, also in October.
Officials with Facebook and Apple did not immediately return requests for comment. A Facebook spokesperson previously said Rosado’s page was taken down for “violating our policies against coordinated harm.”
RELATED: Chicagoland ‘ICE Sighting’ Page Taken Down By Facebook At Justice Department’s Request
The removal of the pages come as First Amendment experts accuse the Trump administration of “jawboning,” or using informal threats to strong-arm private companies into censoring or removing speech.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, previously settled a $25 million lawsuit over the suspensions of Trump’s accounts following the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. Meta also sent $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, canceled its diversity programs, got rid of fact-checkers and appointed Dana White, a close Trump ally and the CEO and president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, to its board of directors.
“Facebook has a history of submitting to government threats of criminal prosecution based on disfavored content decisions,” the lawsuit reads.
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