An upstate New York resident has sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for sending federal officers to his house with a warning over an email he sent to the agency's one-time head. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
David Streever, a U.S. citizen, was on a trip to Finland when two officers showed up at his Rochester home in June 2026 and presented his wife with a warning notice informing him that the email he sent months earlier was considered a threat. Streever sent the email in January to Todd Lyons, then acting director of ICE, after an immigration officer fatally shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good during an anti-ICE demonstration.
In the email, Streever called Lyons "a monstrous human being" who "will never know peace." He said the agency violated his First Amendment rights in a lawsuit filed Monday in Washington D.C.
Streever is one of at least two residents of upstate New York who was served with a federal warning in June 2026 in the wake of criticizing ICE online. The Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is representing Streever and said it filed the lawsuit because Streever's right to free expression was violated.
"This is very clearly within the protection of the First Amendment," said Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with the foundation. "It was in the context of political speech."
Another New York resident says he was warned.