Two days after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal officers during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis in January, David Streever was deeply upset. He sent a three-paragraph email criticizing Todd Lyons, who was then the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Five months later, two federal officers came to Streever’s home and gave him a warning, saying his email may have threatened Lyons.
According to CNN, the visit led Streever to file a lawsuit on Monday against several Department of Homeland Security officials. The lawsuit says the officers “went to extraordinary lengths to confront and intimidate him.”
Who is David Streever?
David Streever is a resident of Rochester, New York, who is married and has a 7-year-old daughter. He became one of the first two people to publicly reveal that they received a warning notice from Homeland Security agents over online communications, the other being Paigelynne Gonyea from Syracuse, per NPR.
Streever sent a three-paragraph email to then-acting ICE Director Todd Lyons on January 26, days after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal officers during the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis.
In the email, titled “What’s next,” Streever compared Lyons to a Nazi official and wrote that his conscience would haunt him for justifying the killing of two American citizens in Minneapolis.
Five months later, on June 23, two federal officials showed up at his Rochester home with a written warning notice while he was away on vacation with his daughter.
Streever has now filed a lawsuit against DHS officials, represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, arguing his email was protected under the First Amendment.
“Like many Americans, I was deeply upset after the shootings in Minnesota and I felt compelled to do something,” Streever said in a statement, per NPR. “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.”
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What Streever wrote
Attorneys with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the nonprofit representing Streever, said in a statement, “The First Amendment unquestionably protects Streever’s criticism.”
In the January 26 email to Lyons, Streever compared him to a Nazi official and warned that his conscience would haunt him if he kept justifying the actions of officers who killed two American citizens in Minneapolis, according to CNN.
“You will never know peace,” Streever wrote to Lyons in the email, which had the subject line “What’s next.”
“You will seek to lose yourself, to escape the burden of knowing the truth about yourself,” he wrote. “But wherever you go, you will find yourself. You will torment yourself until your last day on Earth.”
Then, on June 23, two federal officials showed up at Streever’s Rochester, New York home with a written notice warning him against threatening federal officials. The notice told Streever he “MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW,” as per NPR.
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The lawsuit
The nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed the lawsuit on Monday in a federal court in Washington, DC. The lawsuit names three federal agents, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and ICE officials as defendants. It argues that Streever’s email was protected under the First Amendment and that federal agents violated his free speech rights.
“Our Constitution does not tolerate such a brazen abuse of authority,” the lawsuit states.
FIRE senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh said the five-month delay before officials acted on the email raises questions about the investigation itself. “If someone is really threatening a government official, you don’t wait five months to act on it,” Steinbaugh said, per NPR.
“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.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said ICE “investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director,” adding, “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on any ongoing investigations,” per CNN.
