Apple has doubled down on its claims that removing ICEblock and similar apps from the App Store was necessary for safety, though chiefly because it was never going to admit to bowing to government pressure. In July 2025, the Department of Justice publicly threatened the developer of ICEblock, an app that let users say when Immigration and Enforcement Officers were spotted in an area. The app was intended to help people avoid trouble spots, such as the riots caused when ICE agents entered Los Angeles against the city mayor's orders.

Apple is now being asked to justify how in October 2025, it subsequently removed ICEblock from the App Store. Only excerpts of Apple's latest comments have been reported, but CNN says that the company's July 2026 letter doubled down on safety as the reason for the removal. The letter, written in response to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) of the House Judiciary Committee, reportedly says that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi had "expressed serious concerns to Apple that ICEBlock posed a threat to the safety of federal officers."

This had been followed by FBI Director Kash Patel claiming that apps such a ICEblock had been used to track agents. Apple says instead that it concluded that ICE-tracking apps were in violation of App Store policies since they gave users "precise location information about ICE officers... thus providing a potential roadmap for targeted violence and creating a significant risk of harm."