Trump agency sued by critic who feds tracked down for calling official 'monstrous'

ICE agents ring the doorbell at David Streeter's home in Rochester, New York (Photo: Screen capture via Nest Video)

All he did was call Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin a "monstrous human being" and federal agents showed up at his door.

Syracuse.com reported on Monday that father of two David Streever filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., against Mullin and six other officials, alleging that they violated his First Amendment Rights.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, joined Streever in the lawsuit alleging Streever, a Rochester man, wrote a critical email to the former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about the slayings of protesters at the hands of police. Five months later, feds were staking out his New York City hotel room after he returned from an overseas vacation with his daughter.

"That’s an outrageous violation of an American’s First Amendment rights. So today, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed a federal lawsuit to challenge ICE’s efforts to scare Streever and others into silence and remind other government officials that such behavior is un-American, unconstitutional, and unacceptable in a free society," FIRE said in a statement.

“Like many Americans, I was deeply upset after the shootings in Minnesota and I felt compelled to do something,” Streever explained. “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.”

Streever's Nest doorbell video recorded two officers ringing the bell, looking through the windows of his home and standing around before ringing the bell again. They ultimately left. Streever was in Finland with his 7-year-old daughter, FIRE said. No one else arrived home until later. When his wife, an Episcopal priest, arrived home, the agents were waiting.

She was handed a “WARNING NOTICE," said FIRE. It said, "in underlined capital letters printed on official federal stationery from ICE and DHS, with respect to Streever that 'YOU MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW' for sending his email to the ICE director. The notice insists that he should 'promptly … discontinue' his 'behavior,' and warns that the notice will be 'taken into consideration' if he 'continue[s] to be involved' in 'criminal activities.'"

His spouse told the agents that he would be back in the country on Friday. Streever arrived back in the U.S., landing in New York City, and went to a hotel to sleep off some jet lag before heading home the rest of the way.

After checking into their hotel, a federal agent appeared at the front desk looking for him. The agent left his card, which the hotel told Streever about. Two agents then repeatedly called his cell phone "leaving anonymous voicemails identifying themselves only as 'Homeland Security Investigations.'"

It unnerved the family, given that his spouse never indicated where he was staying. The only way that Homeland Security could have known where he was located was by monitoring him.

As he and his daughter rode the train home, he told the child that there was a chance that a federal agent might confront him. His daughter then broke down crying because she was afraid.

The email from Streever addressed to Todd Lyons, who served as the acting ICE official until May 31, calls Lyons a "monstrous human being" and compared him to Nazi Reinhard Heydrich.

"The way you are protecting the obvious execution in Minnesota, even as we see the videos, will lead to your downfall," the email continued. "Even Trump will turn on you before the end, and you will be a sad, despised man who eats himself alive with shame at your own pathetic weakness. You will never know peace. You will seek to lose yourself, to escape the burden of knowing the truth about yourself. But wherever you go, you will find yourself. You will torment yourself until your last day on Earth."

Indeed, Lyons was ousted from the administration. Unlike other members of Trump's administration, he was sent off to the "private sector" consulting on "national security and defense."

FIRE explained that "Streever’s email contained only fully protected speech, and nothing that could constitutionally justify ICE’s 'knock it off' threats. And it came nowhere close to an unlawful threat of violence, as the notice and subsequent ICE posts suggested. Telling the director of ICE that he would carry a guilty conscience around with him for the rest of his life, at the pinnacle of public debate over ICE actions, is no crime. It’s core protected exercise of the rights to free speech and to petition government officials."

One observation made by FIRE Senior Attorney Adam Steinbaugh is that it doesn't generally take five months for police to deal with credible threats of violence.

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