Federal agents working on matters tied to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement visited two New York residents over online criticism of ICE personnel, according to reporting by Syracuse.com. The visits matter because the speech described in the reporting was political criticism, the category of expression government officials are supposed to be least eager to police.
Syracuse.com reported that agents first went to the Syracuse home of PaigeLynne Gonyea and told her to remove a social media account they said threatened federal agents. Gonyea told the outlet she believed the visit concerned a January Instagram post in which she identified an ICE agent who had shot protester Renee Good, citing information already reported publicly.
The agents gave Gonyea an unsigned form letter saying they were investigating threats against ICE personnel, Syracuse.com reported. The form said agents had identified an Instagram account they believed violated federal law and asked her to stop the conduct and remove the material.
After that visit, two federal law enforcement agents went to Rochester looking for David Streever, Syracuse.com reported. Streever was out of the country with his seven-year-old daughter at the time, and his doorbell camera showed two people on his porch. The agents told Streever’s wife they were there with a warning letter about an email Streever had sent in January to Todd Lyons, then acting director of ICE.
According to Syracuse.com, Streever’s email angrily criticized Lyons after federal officers killed Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti during a protest-related incident. Streever compared Lyons to Reinhard Heydrich, accused him of protecting an “execution” in Minnesota, predicted that President Donald Trump would turn on him, and wrote that Lyons would not find peace. Lyons later resigned as acting ICE director, according to Federal News Network reporting cited by Techdirt.
The warning notice delivered to Streever’s wife said the email could be treated as a threat against a federal official under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, according to the document shared by Techdirt. The form also referred to ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility and cited Title 19. Techdirt noted that Title 19 concerns trade and customs law, not a general power to investigate allegedly threatening messages. ICE’s own website says its Office of Professional Responsibility handles security programs, inspections, reviews, and investigations into misconduct by ICE employees and contractors.
Syracuse.com also reported that agents tried to reach Streever after he returned to New York. Streever said he and his daughter cleared customs at JFK Airport, took a shuttle to a hotel, and went to sleep because of jet lag. At 9:55 p.m., hotel staff called his room and said a special agent named Trevor Pitts had come looking for him. Streever said the staff did not tell the agent he was upstairs, and the agent left a card.
One of the agents involved in the Gonyea visit was identified by Syracuse.com as David Brody. Brody told the outlet he could not answer a reporter’s questions.
The government can investigate true threats. The problem, as described in the reporting, is the thin paper trail: unsigned warning forms, vague statutory citations, and visits to homes and a hotel over criticism of federal officers. If ICE or DHS has a clearer legal basis for these encounters, it has not appeared in the reporting so far.
This story draws on original reporting from Techdirt.
