• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

A free speech advocacy group is asking a federal judge to prohibit the Trump administration from "continuing to coerce" Apple and Meta Platforms to remove an app and Facebook group that enabled people to post information about Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.

"The First Amendment protects rights to observe, record, and disseminate information about what law enforcement does in public," lawyers with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression argue in a request for an injunction filed Thursday with U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso in the Northern District of Illinois.

"This is true even when -- and especially when -- that information may be 'embarrassing to the powers-that-be,'" the group adds, quoting from a Supreme Court concurring opinion in the ruling that allowed The New York Times to publish the Pentagon Papers.

The papers come in a lawsuit brought earlier this month on behalf of Illinois resident Kassandra Rosado, who created the Facebook group “ICE Sightings -- Chicagoland,” and Kreisau Group, which created the Eyes Up app.

The Facebook group enabled users to share information about ICE operations in the Chicago area, and Eyes Up allowed people to post videos about ICE activity.

Both tools were taken down in October, soon after administration officials publicly criticized ICE reporting tools.

Rosado and Kreisau Group argue that administration officials violated the First Amendment by allegedly coercing the tech companies to oust the app and Facebook group.

The complaint referenced allegedly coercive statements by Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, including Bondi's remark on Fox News that she was eyeing the developer of a different reporting app -- ICEBlock -- and that he “better watch out."

The plaintiffs are now seeking an injunction that would prevent government officials from coercing Apple and Facebook, arguing that the government can't "indirectly" censor speech by targeting intermediaries.

"Bondi and Noem violated the First Amendment by strong-arming intermediaries (Apple and Facebook) into suppressing plaintiffs’ speech," they argue.

"Before receiving the government’s demands, Apple and Facebook had no problem with Eyes Up or the Chicagoland group," they add. "Only after the government made its demands did Apple and Facebook, with no prior notice to plaintiffs, suddenly discover purported grounds for immediate removal."

On October 13, Meta said it suspended the Chicagoland group because it “goes against the Community Standards on coordinating harm and promoting crime," according to court documents.

At the time, the group had been active for more than eight months.

When Apple removed Eyes Up, the company said the app violated a guideline (number 1.1.1) that specifically prohibits “defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content, including references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups."

Apple elaborated as follows: "Information provided to Apple by law enforcement shows that your app ... violates Guideline 1.1.1 because its purpose is to provide location information about law enforcement officers that can be used to harm such officers individually or as a group."

Apple had approved Eyes Up five weeks before removing it.

"The timing speaks volumes," the plaintiffs argue. "Apple took down the Eyes Up app, and Facebook removed the Chicagoland group, within a day of receiving demands from the government."

They are asking Alonso to hold a hearing on March 26.