A New York resident has initiated legal proceedings after federal officers visited his home to issue a warning following an email he sent criticising Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership regarding the agency’s tactics during immigration raids.
David Streever, a US citizen residing in Rochester, filed the lawsuit on Monday in Washington, DC, against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. The complaint, seen by Fox News Digital, alleges that officials infringed upon his First Amendment right to express dissent against the government.
Last month, while Streever was on a trip to Finland with his seven-year-old daughter, two officers appeared at his home and presented his wife with a warning notice, stating that an email he had sent months earlier was deemed a threat.
The email, dispatched in January to Todd Lyons, then acting director of ICE, was prompted by the fatal shooting of US citizen Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent during an immigration raid in Minneapolis.
In his email, Streever informed Lyons that he was “a monstrous human being” who “will never know peace” and would “go down in history as America’s Reinhard Heydrich, the butcher,” referencing a prominent Nazi figure.
“The way you are protecting the obvious execution in Minnesota, even as we see the videos, will lead to your downfall. Even Trump will turn on you before the end, and you will be a sad, despised man who eats himself alive with shame at your own pathetic weakness,” Streever wrote in the email, according to the complaint.
The email further stated: “You will seek to lose yourself, to escape the burden of knowing the truth about yourself. But wherever you go, you will find yourself. You will torment yourself until your last day on Earth.”
Upon the officers’ arrival, Streever’s wife answered the door and was given a “warning notice” indicating that her husband “may be in violation of federal law” for sending his email to the former acting director of ICE.
The notice, also reviewed by Fox News Digital, advised Streever to “promptly remove and/or discontinue” his “behavior,” and cautioned that the notice would be “taken into consideration” if he continued to be involved in “criminal activities.”
Streever’s wife informed the officers that he was out of the country but would be returning to Rochester later that week, as detailed in the lawsuit.
However, federal officers did not wait. They subsequently attempted to confront him at a New York City hotel after his return from Finland, though hotel staff prevented them from doing so.
That same evening, officers repeatedly called Streever’s phone, leaving voicemails identifying themselves solely as Homeland Security Investigations.
During their train journey home, Streever informed his daughter of the possibility of federal officers confronting him, leading the young girl to cry out of fear for her father’s safety.
Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, who is representing Streever, asserted that the email constituted protected speech under the First Amendment and did not pose a genuine threat.
“If someone is really threatening a government official, you don’t wait five months to act on it,” Steinbaugh stated. “The fact that authorities didn’t respond immediately shows that David presented no threat. This pursuit is designed to intimidate lawful speech, pure and simple.”
Streever expressed his astonishment that federal officers had come to his home to question him about his email.
“I cherish our right to speak openly about issues of public concern,” Streever said. “I hope others will not be discouraged from peacefully expressing their views, even when those views are critical of the government.”
In an earlier statement, Streever commented: “Like many Americans, I was deeply upset after the shootings in Minnesota and I felt compelled to do something. Writing an email to the head of ICE seemed like the least I could do to express my sense of outrage. I never dreamed it would lead to a knock on my door by federal officers or descending on my hotel in the dark of night.”
Fox News Digital sought comments from DHS and ICE.
The lawsuit also names Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose office issued a statement asserting: “Any allegation DHS and its components are attempting to ‘squash’ free speech is categorically FALSE,” according to the Associated Press.
The complaint requests that the court order DHS and ICE officials to cease their “coercion and retaliation” against Streever for his protected speech.
The warning to Streever coincided with the week poll worker Paigelynne Gonyea, from Syracuse, reported that two federal officers confronted her at a voting site during New York’s primaries. They questioned her about a social media post she had made concerning Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer involved in Good’s death.
Gonyea believes the warning was issued due to a post she made in January, in which she shared a picture of Ross with the caption: “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted.”
Her post was made after Ross had already been identified by the media.
Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for DHS, shared an image of a different social media post by Gonyea, in which she claimed the woman had shared Ross’s address, according to the Associated Press, although part of the post was redacted.
Bis stated last week that Gonyea “committed a federal crime by posting the address of an ICE law enforcement officer online” and warned: “if you doxx our officers, we will investigate you, and you will be brought to justice.”
