By James Oliphant
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday that Meta had complied with its request to take down a page on its Facebook platform that the agency said was being used to harass ICE agents in Chicago.
In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the page was part of an effort to “dox and target” the approximately 200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who have descended on the city as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement drive. Doxxing is the sharing of personal information about people online.
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed that the company had removed the page from the Facebook platform for “violating our policies against coordinated harm.” Neither Meta nor the DOJ provided more information on the page, and Reuters was unable to review it.
Apple earlier this month removed apps that allowed users to track the movements of ICE agents following pressure from the Trump administration. Google also has made similar apps unavailable. The administration has threatened to prosecute makers of the tracking apps.
ICE has been central to Trump’s hardline immigration agenda. Its agents have regularly raided and arrested migrants, and rights advocates say free speech and due process are often being infringed.
The administration has asserted that left-wing protesters have been regularly harassing and interfering with ICE agents. Bondi did not provide evidence in her post on X of specific incidents connected to the Facebook page.
Meta and other tech firms have been trying to mend their relationship with Trump since he won reelection in November. The company contributed $1 million to the president’s inaugural fund and scrapped its diversity and fact-checking programs.
Meta also agreed to pay Trump $25 million to settle a lawsuit over the suspension of his accounts after the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack.
The ICE presence in Chicago has been resisted by the city’s Democratic mayor, Brandon Johnson, and Illinois’ Democratic governor, JB Pritzker. Earlier this month, Johnson signed an order prohibiting ICE agents from using city-owned property as staging areas for operations, and local businesses have posted signs declaring their premises off-limits to ICE.
(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Donna Bryson and Rosalba O’Brien)
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