Apps Tracking ICE Raids Become a Digital Lifeline for Immigrants Seeking To Avoid Crackdowns

ICEBlock has dominated headlines this week. Launched in April by tech developer Joshua Aaron as a way to track and report ICE raids across the country, the app was shot into the national spotlight after a CNN feature and subsequent criticism by White House officials, most notably Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt who alleged it was "painting a target on federal law enforcement officers' back."

Aaron defended ICEBlock as a "100% anonymous" tool avoiding data collection and designed to inform, "not obstruct", and to help users avoid dangerous encounters. By July 2 the app had over 95,000 users, becoming the top social networking app in the App Store.

Criticisim from the Trump administration has only escalated throughout the week, with most of the effort put forward against CNN for its report. Speaking to reporters in Florida on a trip to visit a new ICE detention center in Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz", Homeland Secretar Kristi Noem, said her department and the Department of Justice were looking at prosecuting the news site.

ICEBlock, however, is only one of several initiatives across the country that are growing in popularity as immigrants and non-immigrants grapple with the immigration crackdown. Here are four of the most popular apps that communities are using to track ICE activity

1. People Over Papers

A web-based platform based in Los Angeles, People Over Papers is a crowdsourced platform that tracks suspected ICE activity across the U.S. using a public map powered by Padlet. Founded by a TikTok user named Celeste, the site invites users to upload sightings with photos, videos, timestamps, locations, and descriptions of uniforms or vehicles. A volunteer team then verifies submissions through image analysis and cross-referencing with news and rapid response networks.

As traffic spikes—reaching over 7 million users—moderation has tightened, and disclaimers help correct misidentifications. The platform, born from a shared Google Sheet, now plays a key role in informing communities in several states like Alabama, Texas and California.

"Right now, this is a team of people that have come together with this cause in our heart, that we want to help, and provide assistance, and we're doing that with the labor of love," founder Celeste told LAist in a recent interview.

2. Islip Forward

Islip Forward is a grassroots group based in Suffolk County, Long Island, which uses a mobile app to alert communities of verified ICE sightings in real time. Founded by Ahmad Perez, the app sends push notifications within 10 minutes of confirmation, allowing users to take precautionary action.

Sightings are mapped with timestamps and photos. Perez says the tool responds to growing fear, especially amid increased immigration enforcement. Since its January launch, the app has logged over 60,000 uses. The project aims to protect families, not obstruct justice, countering what Perez describes as disproportionate targeting of non-criminals.

In a recent interview with CBS News, Pérez said of the app: "We want criminals off of our streets. But what we're seeing now is not criminals being taken off our streets. We're seeing innocent families."

3. ICEBlock

The aforementioned iOS-only app created by Joshua Aaron is a multilingual, accessibility-minded mobile app designed to provide real-time alerts about ICE activity. The app operates like Waze but for immigration enforcement, allowing users to see and report sightings within a five-mile radius. All reports are anonymous, expire after four hours, and are untraceable to individual users, ensuring privacy and accuracy.

ICEBlock has gained traction on platforms like BlueSky and X, with users saying it helped them avoid encounters with ICE. Notifications are enabled for timely, location-based updates.

4. ResistMap

Launched by TurnLeft PAC, ResistMap is a national platform designed to crowdsource and map ICE activity through user-submitted reports and text alerts. Described by project lead Samantha Boucher as a "network where communities protect each other," the site aims to build a live registry of immigration enforcement across the U.S., offering both real-time updates and long-term data on federal actions.

Users can submit sightings via a form and receive alerts about ICE activity in their area. Future updates will expand tracking to include militia activity, police violence, and hate crimes, creating what Boucher referred to in a March interview as "a single national picture of the administration's overreach."