CNN defended its reporting on a new app that tracks sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in users’ areas.
Trump administration officials have warned the network that it has sought Justice Department guidance to see if the network can be prosecuted over the report.
A CNN spokesperson said on Tuesday, “This is an app that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it. There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters on Tuesday that “we’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them for that. What they are doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations. We are actually going to go after them and prosecute them.” She did not say which law she believed that CNN had violated.
The report from CNN’s Clare Duffy on Monday was on the app ICEBlock, featuring an interview with its developer, Joshua Aaron. He said that he created the app after watching Trump’s immigration crackdown, and compared it to what happened in Nazi Germany.
The app allows users to place a pin on a map where ICE agents have been spotted, and users in a five mile radius will get a push alert of the sightings. CNN updated its report with a comment from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, who called it a “promotion” of an app that is “reckless and irresponsible.” They network said that it had reached out to ICE for comment before the report was published, but received no response.
“My officers and agents are already facing a 500% increase in assaults, and going on live television to announce an app that lets anyone zero in on their locations is like inviting violence against them with a national megaphone,” Lyons said in his statement.
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