A second upstate New York man is speaking out after he says federal officers paid him a visit in connection with an email he wrote criticizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
David Streever, who lives in Rochester, was traveling in Finland when two federal officers went to his home and handed his wife a warning notice, according to his attorney. The notice indicated that an email Streever had sent several months earlier was being treated as a threat.
Streever wrote the email back in January, addressing it to Todd Lyons, who was serving as the acting director of ICE at the time. The message came after an immigration officer fatally shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good during a demonstration against ICE. In the email, Streever called Lyons “a monstrous human being” who “will never know peace.”
The full contents of the email, as described by Streever’s attorney Adam Steinbaugh of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, included this passage directed at Lyons: “The way you are protecting the obvious execution in Minnesota, even as we see the videos, will lead to your downfall. 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.”
When Streever returned from Finland and checked into a hotel in New York City, federal agents attempted to confront him there as well, but hotel staff turned them away, Steinbaugh said.
The warning delivered to Streever came during the same week that a Syracuse poll worker named Paigelynne Gonyea reported that two federal officers approached her at a voting location during New York’s primary elections. Gonyea said the visit was related to a social media post she had written about the ICE officer involved in the shooting of Good.
ICE declined to comment on Streever’s case, citing an ongoing investigation. However, the agency released a statement saying: “ICE investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director.”
Steinbaugh pushed back firmly on the idea that Streever’s email crossed any legal line. “A true threat is a serious expression of an intent to commit violence. This email doesn’t even come close,” he said. “It’s political speech, it’s an act of petitioning your government.”
Streever also released a statement of his own: “Like many Americans, I was deeply upset after the shootings in Minnesota and I felt compelled to do something. Writing a letter 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.”
Steinbaugh confirmed that Streever has not reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, since receiving the warning, and has no plans to do so.
In Gonyea’s case, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson named Lauren Bis shared an image of a separate social media post in which Gonyea allegedly shared the home address of Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who shot and killed Good. Part of that post was redacted in the image provided. Bis stated that Gonyea “committed a federal crime by posting the address of an ICE law enforcement officer online” and warned that “if you doxx our officers, we will investigate you, and you will be brought to justice.”
Gonyea maintains that the warning she received was tied to a different post — one in which she shared a photo of Ross and wrote: “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted.” She noted that post was made after Ross had already been publicly identified by news outlets, and it remains visible online.
A representative from the New York Attorney General’s Office confirmed the office is aware of both residents’ encounters with federal agents and said officials have been reviewing the interaction between Gonyea and federal officers that took place at the polling site.
Civil liberties advocates say both cases raise serious concerns about government overreach. Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU’s speech, privacy and technology project, said the First Amendment protects the right to criticize government officials.
“Nobody should be tracked down at their home or hotel room by federal agents in retribution for sending an email merely expressing frustration and opposition to the government’s actions,” Wessler said. “This is an abuse of power and a gross attempt to chill Americans’ constitutionally protected speech.”
