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A second New York resident said on Tuesday that federal authorities served him with a warning over an email that authorities deemed threatening after he criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s tactics.
David Streever, of Rochester, was on a trip to Finland last week when two officers showed up to his home and handed his wife a warning notice notifying him that an email he sent earlier this year was deemed a threat, his lawyer told The Associated Press.
Streever sent an email in January to Todd Lyons, who was the acting director of ICE at the time, after an ICE agent shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good during an immigration enforcement-related incident in Minneapolis.
In the email, Streever told Lyons he was “a monstrous human being” who “will never know peace.”
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“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 said in the email, according to Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression who is representing Streever.
Federal officers also attempted to confront Streever at a New York City hotel after he returned from Finland, but hotel staff turned them away, Steinbaugh said.
Steinbaugh argued the email was protected speech under the First Amendment and does not represent a legitimate threat.
“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.”
Streever said he was shocked that federal officers came to his home to question him over his email.
“Like many Americans, I was deeply upset after the shootings in Minnesota and I felt compelled to do something,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press. “Writing a letter 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.”
Fox News Digital reached out to ICE for comment.
“ICE investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director,” the agency said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The warning to Streever was presented the same week poll worker Paigelynne Gonyea, of Syracuse, said two federal officers confronted her at a voting site during New York’s primaries to question her about a social media post she made about Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who killed Good.
Gonyea said she believes the warning to her was because of a post she made in January in which she shared a picture of Ross along with the caption: “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted.”
Her post, which is still online, was made after Ross had already been identified by the media.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Lauren Bis, shared an image of a different social media post from Gonyea in which she said the woman shared Ross’ address, according to The Associated Press, although part of the post was redacted.
Bis said in a statement last week that Gonyea “committed a federal crime by posting the address of an ICE law enforcement officer online” and “if you doxx our officers, we will investigate you, and you will be brought to justice.”
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Free speech advocates, including those at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the American Civil Liberties Union, have argued that these two incidents show federal law enforcement infringing on Americans’ rights to privacy and free expression.
Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU’s speech, privacy and technology project, said the First Amendment guarantees the right to criticize the government.
“Nobody should be tracked down at their home or hotel room by federal agents in retribution for sending an email merely expressing frustration and opposition to the government’s actions,” Wessler told The Associated Press. “This is an abuse of power and a gross attempt to chill Americans’ constitutionally protected speech.”
ICE and DHS have said they investigate credible threats and doxxing of law enforcement officers. The government has not publicly provided a fuller explanation of why Streever’s email was treated as a threat.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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