GREECE, N.Y. — An upstate New York man is suing the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of David Streever of Greece after he says federal agents distributed a warning to his home that he may have violated federal law.

FIRE provided a copy of the email that Streevers sent to address his concerns with the federal agency after Alex Pretti was shot and killed in Minnesota at the end of January. The email is addressed to the then-acting ICE director, Todd Lyons, and refers to him as a monstrous human being and references a leader in Nazi Germany. The three-paragraph message ends with, “You will torment yourself until your last day on Earth.”

What You Need To Know

A Greece man is suing the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement for allegedly violating his first amendment rights
David Streever sent a frustrated email to the then-acting ICE director after Alex Pretti died in Minnesota in January
Five months later, federal officers came to his home to give Streever a warning that he may be violating a federal law
DHS says the agency has been experiencing a significant increase in violence campaigns against its federal agents
Legal experts say the First Amendment protects an individual’s right to sending a government official critiques, complaints and even insults

Streever says he didn’t hear back from the agency for five months. A few weeks ago, federal officers knocked on his door.

“Two federal agents knocked on his door in Rochester, New York. They encountered his wife. And they gave her a piece of paper that said that your husband’s email may be a threat to a federal official, and told her that he needed to stop,” FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh explained. “David was not at home at the time. He was abroad on a trip with his daughter. And they came back several days later and were staying in a hotel in New York City. And federal agents track them down there too, and tried to confront him again.”

FIRE says that Streever’s First Amendment rights, which protect the freedom of speech, have been violated.

“What happens when officers don’t arrest you? But they keep showing up, and they give you a formal notice saying you might go to jail if you keep exercising your First Amendment rights? That’s enough to chill someone from continuing to speak in the future. And that violates the First Amendment too,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it does not comment on ongoing investigations. However, in a statement, a DHS spokesperson said,

“Any allegation DHS and its components are attempting to ‘squash’ free speech is categorically FALSE. ICE investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director.”

“Our law enforcement officers are on the frontlines arresting terrorists, gang members, murderers, child sex abusers, and rapists. They are experiencing coordinated campaigns of violence against them and facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks and an 8,000% increase in death threats.”

“Anyone who assaults or threatens our law enforcement officers will face the consequences.”

Legal experts say consequences can be jail time, as in Streever’s case, but only if it’s proven that a “true threat” exists.

“If the email says, ‘I’m going to come to your house and commit an act of violence,’ then that’s a threat,” Roy Gutterman, the director of the Newhouse School’s Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University, said. “’I know where you live; I saw you at the convenience store and traveling.’ That sort of stuff, that’s a little more specific. But sending a government official a critique, or a complaint, or even an insult. Insults are protected by the First Amendment, too, as difficult as it is to swallow sometimes. But an email from a random person who tracked down a government official’s email address, you don’t have to be a computer engineer to track down email addresses. That’s far from a threat, too.”

A similar situation happened the same week in Central New York, when ICE officials issued a warning to a poll worker who was critical of the response to protests in Minnesota.

Gutterman adds that there may be an underlying threat by intimidation for a federal officer to approach an individual or enter their property, as well.

“Law enforcement has a lot of power, and for many good reasons. And to exercise that power, to flesh that power, does require some responsibility. Rooting out dissidents or critics, I think, is a stretch on exerting your governmental power,” Gutterman said.

Streever’s counsel says the goal of the lawsuit is for the court to grant protections for ICE to stop “harassing” Streever. Steinbaugh says this is typically a fairly quick process.

“Courts do recognize that First Amendment rights are lost when the legal system moves slowly,” Steinbaugh said. “If you have to sit there and wait for a court to rule to figure out whether or not you can speak, you’re going to remain silent for that period. So the courts do move pretty quickly on these things.

“Certainly we wouldn’t be going to court, and asking for a remedy like this. If he were not anxious about the possibility that his next tweet, the next email, the next conversation with a friend might send them to prison,” Steinbaugh continued. “Courts do recognize that First Amendment rights are lost when the legal system moves slowly. If you have to sit there and wait for a court to rule to figure out whether or not you can speak, you’re going to remain silent for that period. So the courts do move pretty quickly on these things.”