Another New York resident says he was warned by officers after criticizing ICE
A second New York resident says federal officers have served him with a warning about online activity that criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.apnews.com
A second upstate New York resident said Tuesday that federal officers have served him with a warning about online activity that criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
An attorney representing David Streever, of Rochester, said Streever was on a trip to Finland when two officers showed up to his home last week and presented his wife with a warning notice informing him that an email he sent months earlier was a threat.
Streever sent the email to Todd Lyons, then the acting director of ICE, in January 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.”
The warning to Streever arrived the same week poll worker Paigelynne Gonyea, of Syracuse, said two federal officers visited her at a voting location during New York’s primaries to confront her about a social media post she’d written about the ICE officer who shot Good.
Federal agents also attempted to confront Streever at a hotel in New York City when he returned from Finland, but they were turned away by hotel staff, said Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression who is representing Streever.
In the email, Streever told Lyons: “The way you are protecting the obvious execution in Minnesota, even as we see the videos, will lead to your downfall,” according to Steinbaugh. “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.”
Representatives for ICE declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
“ICE investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director,” the agency said in a statement.
Steinbaugh argued the email was protected speech.
“A true threat is a serious expression of an intent to commit violence. This email doesn’t even come close,” Steinbaugh said. “It’s political speech, it’s an act of petitioning your government.”
"Will never know peace" for sure is necessary to clarify. Kind of "will sleep with the fishes" thing.
