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STATEMENT: ICE tracked down a New York woman who posted information she saw in a newspaper. Why her fight is everyone’s fight.
ICE agents tracked down Syracuse resident Paigelynne Gonyea on Tuesday, reportedly warning that her Instagram post identifying the ICE agent who shot and killed protester Renee Good might lead to “federal or state prosecution.” The information about the ICE agent had already been widely reported in news outlets, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune, before Paigelynne’s post.
The following statement can be attributed to FIRE senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh.
A free America doesn’t dispatch federal law enforcement agents to intimidate someone for an Instagram post of publicly available information. Free speech is the bedrock of a free society, and the First Amendment squarely prohibits ICE agents from intimidating Americans for nothing more than repeating information from a newspaper report. As we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence from England, where police now hassle residents over social media posts, let’s not follow their lead.
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