New Yorker sues ICE after agents visit his home over email criticism

A Rochester man is suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after Homeland Security Investigations agents went to his home with a warning notice over an email he sent to the agency’s then-acting director. The case filed July 6 in federal court in Washington, D.C., by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression asks whether federal officers crossed from law enforcement into retaliation for protected speech.

David Streever, a U.S. citizen who lives in Rochester, New York, sent the email on January 26 to Todd Lyons after federal immigration officers fatally shot two U.S. citizen observers during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Streever’s message was scathing, and the complaint says it likened Lyons to a Nazi and suggested he would be tormented by his conscience. Lyons stepped down as acting ICE director at the end of May.

On June 23, while he was traveling in Finland with his 7-year-old daughter, two Homeland Security Investigations agents visited his Rochester home and left his wife a document labeled “WARNING NOTICE” that said he “may be in violation of federal law.” The notice told him to “promptly remove and/or discontinue” the behavior. After Streever returned to New York City, agents later tried to contact him at a hotel, but hotel staff turned them away.

ICE declined to comment because of an ongoing investigation. The agency investigates all credible threats toward its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE director. FIRE argues that the email was protected political speech, not a true threat, and says the Department of Homeland Security is using tactics that chill criticism of government power. Streever said he wrote the email because he was deeply upset by the Minnesota shootings and never expected federal officers at his door.

The complaint also points to a separate Syracuse case involving a poll worker who said he was confronted over social-media criticism.