WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel shared on Thursday that the gunman who opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas yesterday had searched online for apps that tracked the locations of ICE agents.
Such apps are a “casting call to invite bad actors to invite law enforcement officers,” Marcos Charles, ICE’s Acting Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, said at a Thursday press conference. “It’s no different than giving the hit man the location of their intended target, and this is exactly what we saw happen in Dallas yesterday.”
Charles called out mainstream media outlets for amplifying these apps, lamenting that “The media has been amplifying these apps even as we warned them it would only lead to more attacks on law enforcement.”
“We truly wish we didn’t have to say we told you so, but here we are.”
CNN came under fire earlier this year for its coverage of one such app, “ICE Block.” CNN’s story and segment dove into the intricacies of the app, sharing how it allows users to report ICE sightings and pinpoint the locations of federal agents in order to help illegal aliens avoid arrest.
Users could be anonymous, CNN noted.
“‘I wanted to do something to fight back’: This iPhone app alerts users to nearby ICE sightings,” reads the headline of CNN reporter Claire Duffy’s piece. Her coverage shares that “users can add a pin on a map showing where they spotted agents — along with optional notes, like what officers were wearing or what kind of car they were driving,” adding: “Other users within a five-mile radius will then receive a push alert notifying them of the sighting.”
🚨NEW—CNN pushes new app “ICEBlock” meant to “track ICE activity in real time,” alerting illegal aliens before they are detained and deported.
The app is completely free and anonymous to use. pic.twitter.com/f142PBR9Bo
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 30, 2025
ICE officials said in June that CNN’s segment endangered the lives of federal agents, and, pressed by The Daily Wire about the matter during a June press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that the app sounded like “an incitement of further violence against our ICE officers.”
“It’s unacceptable that a major network would promote such an app that is encouraging violence against law enforcement officers who are trying to keep our country safe,” Leavitt said in June. The White House’s opposition to the coverage drew fire from liberal media outlets like MSNBC — which criticized the Trump administration and also interviewed ICE Block founder Joshua Aaron “to share his motive behind creating the app and why he’s not afraid of retaliation from the administration.”
On Thursday, following the tragic shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas, Leavitt slammed CNN once again.
“Three months ago, CNN irresponsibly gave free publicity to an app that recklessly shares the location of ICE Agents,” Leavitt said. “It has now been revealed the leftist lunatic shooter who opened fire on the Dallas ICE Facility was using one of these apps.”
“The liberal media is complicit in the increased threats and violence against ICE,” Leavitt argued. “We see it every day — they are quick to write a fake story portraying ICE in a negative light, often omitting the real facts of these cases, and they hardly ever write about the vicious criminals that ICE is arresting every day to make our country safer.”
.@MaryMargOlohan asks @PressSec about CNN’s promotion of “ICEBlock”, an app that tells you where ICE agents are:
LEAVITT: “It’s unacceptable that a major network would promote such an app that is encouraging violence against officers who are trying to keep our country safe.” pic.twitter.com/Bkd8RpJYqJ
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) June 30, 2025
“This is an app that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it,” a CNN spokesman told The Daily Wire Thursday. “There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN.”
In June, a spokesman defended the network’s coverage, saying in a statement that it “reported on a publicly available app, which is generating attention across the United States, and reached out to ICE for comment prior to publication,” and noting that “after CNN published its reporting, ICE posted a response, which is now included in the story.”
On Wednesday, 29-year-old Joshua Jahn opened fire on the Dallas ICE facility from a nearby rooftop. He killed one illegal immigrant detainee and injured two others before killing himself. FBI Director Patel said Thursday that FBI Dallas and FBI headquarters have been “working 24/7 to seize devices, exploit data, and process writings obtained on location and in the subject’s person/residence/bedroom.”
“This FBI is committed to providing timely updates, as promised,” Patel said, before sharing that “The perp downloaded a document titled ‘Dallas County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management’ containing a list of DHS facilities,” and noting that the killer “conducted multiple searches of ballistics and the ‘Charlie Kirk Shot Video’ between 9/23-9/24.”
“Between 8/19-8/24,” Patel shared, “he searched apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents.”
One of the handwritten notes that the shooter left behind, said Patel, read: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?”
Patel concluded that “further accumulated evidence to this point indicates a high degree of pre-attack planning,” promising further updates when available.”
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