• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

The Trump administration is urging a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit by ICEBlock creator Joshua Aaron, who accused government officials of coercing Apple into removing the app from its marketplace.

Aaron's "coercion claim misses the mark," the Justice Department says in papers filed Tuesday with U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington, D.C.

Among other arguments, the government contends that the Aaron's allegations lack the kinds of details that would prove Apple ousted the app due to threats by the administration.

"Plaintiffs allege communication between Attorney General Bondi and Apple, but their complaint contains nothing more than conclusory allegations about the content of those communications," the Justice Department writes.

The new papers come in a lawsuit brought by Aaron and software developer All U Chart in December, when they alleged that Attorney General Pam Bondi, border czar Tom Homan and others violated the First Amendment by pressuring Apple to expel ICEBlock.

ICEBlock, which launched in April, enables people to report public sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. By October, the app had drawn more than 1.1 million users, according to the complaint.

As detailed in the complaint, the app broadcasts information about ICE sightings to users within a five-mile radius of agents' locations. Data about those sightings is only available for four hours.

In late June, CNN called attention to the app, which reportedly was used at the time by more than 20,000 people.

Border Czar Tom Homan responded to the CNN report by urging the Justice Department to investigate the cable channel over the segment, which he called "disgusting."

Apple expelled the app from its marketplace on October 2. That same day, Attorney General Pam Bondi took credit for its removal, telling Fox News: "We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store -- and Apple did so."

She alleged at the time that the app was "designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs."

Aaron disputed that accusation, stating in the complaint that the app "neither enables nor encourages confrontation."

The developer is seeking a declaration that Bondi and other officials violated the First Amendment, and an injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from "coercing, threatening, or demanding" that Apple and other marketplaces stop distributing the app.

Friedrich hasn't yet indicated when she will issue a ruling.