Rochester man sues ICE in Washington after agents delivered written warning tied to his critical email

David Streever, a U.S. citizen from Rochester, New York, filed a federal lawsuit in Washington alleging that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent officers to his home to deliver a warning after he sent a critical email to the agency’s then acting director. Streever’s attorneys said the incident occurred while he was traveling abroad, and they characterized the effort as intimidation tied to his speech.

According to the reports, Streever sent a short email in January to Todd Lyons, who was then the acting director of ICE, after federal agents shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis during a confrontation captured on video amid protests. Streever’s email included sharply worded criticism of Lyons, and it later became the basis for an ICE warning delivered to Streever at his Rochester residence, according to his attorneys.

Streever’s suit alleges that two federal officers appeared at his home in June and presented his wife with a written notice. The notice informed him that the email he had sent months earlier was considered a threat, the reporting said. Streever, who was described as being on a trip to Finland at the time, then learned of the warning through his family rather than through an in-person contact, according to the accounts.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in the District of Columbia, according to multiple reports. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is representing Streever, said it brought the case because it believes the government’s action violated the First Amendment by targeting political speech and by turning a written grievance into a federal confrontation at a home.

The reports also said ICE previously declined to comment on the warning to Streever, citing an ongoing investigation, and that the agency did not immediately comment on the lawsuit when it was filed. The legal filings and the specific claims and requested relief were not included in the published reports at the time of writing.

If the allegations are borne out in court, the case would test how ICE and other federal law enforcement components handle threats or security concerns that are asserted to stem from protected expression. The complaint’s central premise is that the government treated a critical email as a threat warranting in-person law enforcement contact and a written warning.

The case is now pending, and it will proceed according to federal civil litigation procedures in the court where it was filed. ICE can respond through a motion to dismiss or other pretrial requests, and the matter may turn on whether the government can lawfully connect the challenged conduct to any legitimate security rationale while respecting constitutional protections for speech and petitioning activity.