In side-by-side pictures recorded by a doorbell digital camera, two federal brokers in blue jackets are seen on David Streever’s porch at his house in Rochester, N.Y. on June 23, 2026.
David Streever
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David Streever
Federal brokers with Homeland Safety Investigations tried to trace down Rochester resident David Streever final month and provides him a warning discover alleging that he had probably violated the regulation when he wrote a harsh e mail months earlier to the previous head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Now a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Basis for Particular person Rights and Expression on Monday in federal courtroom in Washington, D.C. argues Streever’s January e mail was protected speech and the federal brokers’ and their superiors violated Streever’s First Modification rights.
NPR reported final week about HSI brokers attempting to contact Streever first at his house and later at a resort over an e mail that Streever wrote to Todd Lyons, who stepped down because the appearing director of ICE on the finish of Could.
FIRE’s lawsuit says the First Modification protects People’ rights to talk out towards police however says the “Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) is actively threatening that freedom, monitoring down and retaliating towards audio system like Plaintiff David Streever as a result of he exercised his elementary proper to criticize one of many highest-ranking regulation enforcement officers in the USA.”
The swimsuit goes on to say, “Our Structure doesn’t tolerate such a brazen abuse of authority.”
Streever wrote to Lyons’ authorities e mail handle on Jan. 26 after federal immigration officers in Minneapolis fatally shot two U.S. citizen observers throughout the immigration enforcement surge there.
The three-paragraph word in contrast Lyons to a Nazi and predicted that Lyons could be suffering from his personal conscience. It has the topic line, “What’s subsequent.”
5 months later, on June 23, two HSI brokers rang the doorbell of Streever’s Rochester house after which left a doc with Streever’s spouse for him to signal. It was labeled “WARNING NOTICE” and “YOU MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW,” and described federal legal guidelines that make it a criminal offense to threaten federal officers. The discover mentioned ICE’s Workplace of Skilled Accountability had recognized an e mail to Lyons which will violate federal regulation and the workplace “is requesting that you just promptly take away and/or discontinue the aforementioned habits.”
The underside of the shape reads, “Receipt of this Discover might be considered, must you proceed to be concerned in any felony actions described above.”
Streever was taking his 7-year-old daughter on a trip to a Finnish theme park when the brokers visited his house. He and his daughter landed at New York Metropolis’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport two days later and made their technique to a close-by airport resort to sleep.
That night, Streever was informed by the resort entrance desk {that a} federal agent from the Division of Homeland Safety had come to see him and had left a enterprise card. His spouse had not informed the brokers which resort he could be staying at, elevating questions on how Streever had been tracked to that location.
“Like many People, I used to be deeply upset after the shootings in Minnesota and I felt compelled to do one thing,” Streever mentioned in a press release. “Writing an e mail to the top of ICE appeared just like the least I might do to precise my sense of concern. I by no means dreamed it could result in a knock on my door by federal officers or descending on my resort in the dead of night of night time.”
The lawsuit names three federal brokers who tried to contact Streever as defendants together with Secretary of Homeland Safety Markwayne Mullin and ICE officers.
The swimsuit argues the federal brokers’ actions have brought about Streever to self-censor his views, and alleges they violated a First Modification bar on the federal government threatening individuals over protected speech.
The lawsuit asks for the courtroom to seek out that Streever’s e mail was protected by the First Modification, and to bar defendants “from taking any additional actions, formal or casual, to coerce, threaten, retaliate towards, or intimate repercussions instantly or not directly to Plaintiff Streever for his protected speech and petitioning exercise.”
The swimsuit additionally asks the courtroom to declare the warning notices federal brokers are issuing persons are “adequate” to sit back free expression protected by the First Modification.
“ICE’s issuance of formal “WARNING NOTICE” paperwork to critics who interact in protected speech—and its choice to have federal brokers ship these warnings in individual—can have just one objective: to systemically chill ICE’s critics and coerce them into silence,” the swimsuit reads.
DHS responded with the identical assertion that it supplied final week when NPR first requested about Streever’s case. “ICE investigates all credible threats in direction of its staff and officers, together with threats to the ICE Director. As a matter of coverage, we don’t touch upon any ongoing investigations.”
Adam Steinbaugh, senior legal professional at FIRE, mentioned in a press release the federal government’s delayed response to Streever’s January e mail undermines its investigation.
“If somebody is absolutely threatening a authorities official, you do not wait 5 months to behave on it,” Steinbaugh mentioned within the assertion. “The truth that authorities did not reply instantly reveals that David introduced no menace. This pursuit is designed to intimidate lawful speech, pure and easy.”
Ballot employee given the identical warning discover
The lawsuit mentions that the identical day HSI brokers visited Streever’s house on June 23, additionally they confronted Paigelynne Gonyea, a Syracuse resident who was working at a polling place for the New York main election that day, about an Instagram publish.
Whereas Gonyea was at Syracuse’s Central Library working the polls, an HSI agent left her a voicemail that mentioned the brokers had simply visited her former condo and have been calling “in reference to a publish that we consider you made on Instagram the place you doxxed an ICE agent again in January.”
Doxxing sometimes refers to releasing delicate details about an individual on-line.
Gonyea referred to as the agent again. She mentioned the brokers had wished her to return exterior the polling place to talk with them however she informed NPR she didn’t belief them, and had informed them to return speak to her contained in the polling place when there was a lull in voters.
Native election officers later mentioned the federal brokers shouldn’t have gone inside, provided that police are usually not imagined to enter polling locations until there may be an emergency and a lately enacted New York regulation bars federal immigration officers from voting websites.
Video captured by fellow ballot employees reveals two brokers with badges talking with Gonyea contained in the library and delivering a warning discover that mentioned her Instagram account might have violated the regulation. Gonyea mentioned the brokers didn’t inform her which of her posts had prompted their go to however that they had confirmed it was a publish about Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis.
Gonyea denied to NPR and different information shops that she had ever doxxed Ross and had mentioned she thought the brokers have been referring to a publish she made that recognized Ross by identify after the Minnesota Star Tribune had reported it, and referred to as for Ross to be indicted. That publish continues to be seen on her Instagram account.
However after NPR and different media shops wrote concerning the encounter, DHS launched a press release that mentioned Gonyea “dedicated a federal crime by posting the handle of an ICE regulation enforcement officer on-line.” The assertion continued, “Doxxing federal regulation enforcement officers is a federal crime that places their lives and their households in critical hazard…If you happen to doxx our officers, we’ll examine you, and you’ll be dropped at justice.”
DHS didn’t reply to requests from NPR to offer proof that Gonyea had doxxed Ross. However the division did share with the Related Press a redacted screenshot taken from a cellular phone of a unique Instagram publish that appears prefer it was posted from Gonyea’s account.
The publish that was proven to AP is a photograph of Ross with textual content that reads, “The killer’s identify is Jonathan Ross of” and the remaining is redacted, presumably by DHS. The publish doesn’t at the moment seem on Gonyea’s Instagram account. The screenshot reveals it was taken six hours after the publish went up however doesn’t present a date.
Gonyea informed NPR she had the chance to assessment the screenshot of the publish however she didn’t consider she had posted it.
“Primarily based on the whole lot I do know, I don’t consider that I made that publish, and I’ve no unbiased recollection of ever creating or publishing it,” she informed NPR in a textual content message.
“There may be further context that I consider is necessary, and I stay up for addressing these issues by means of the suitable course of reasonably than within the press,” she wrote.
“What has not modified is my concern concerning the broader constitutional points raised by my expertise, together with free speech, due course of and authorities accountability.”
Steinbaugh from FIRE informed NPR final week {that a} social media publish that shares an individual’s handle alone isn’t a felony offense.
“What the regulation criminalizes is publishing an handle or sharing an handle with the intent to convey a menace,” Steinbaugh mentioned. “So in the event you publish an handle and say, ‘Hey, gang, at 5:00 tonight, we will all meet up right here with our pitchforks and torches,’ that places you extra within the ballpark of a menace.”
He mentioned some social media posts that publicized Ross’s handle have been within the context of a broader public debate about whether or not federal immigration officers can put on masks and refuse to determine themselves “and primarily [act] nearly as a secret police.” He mentioned for that motive, some posts that shared details about Ross have been a type of protest.
“Folks may suppose that that’s speech that individuals shouldn’t interact in, nevertheless it’s nonetheless protected and it may well’t be criminalized,” Steinbaugh mentioned.
Gonyea and Streever are the primary two individuals who have made public that they obtained warning notices from Homeland Safety brokers about their on-line communications.
