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Oct. 2, 2025, 11:34 PM EDTBy Steve Kopack and Phil HelselApple said Thursday it is removing an app that allows users to share information about sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, which the head of ICE had criticized.ICEBlock was removed from Apple’s App Store along with other apps like it, Apple said.“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps,” Apple said. “Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store.”Trump administration officials have complained about assaults and threats to ICE agents, among them that they face being “doxxed,” a term that means personal information is shared online.ICEBlock does not involve the sharing of personal information about agents, but it notifies people within a 5-mile radius of sightings.The app was launched in April, around three months after President Donald Trump was inaugurated following a campaign in which he vowed to crack down on people in the country without legal authorization. Downloads took off in June, the month immigration raids were launched in Los Angeles.Fox Business, which first reported that the app had been pulled Thursday, reported that Justice Department officials asked Apple to remove ICEBlock at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi.The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News. Bondi said in a statement to Fox Business, “We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so.”Bondi told the news outlet that “ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs.”White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons also criticized the app in July.A message seeking comment from ICEBlock’s founder or others affiliated with the app, which was sent through its website, was not immediately returned Thursday night.The app is being removed a little more than a week after a 29-year-old Texas man, Joshua Jahn, opened fire on people at a Dallas ICE facility sally port, killing two detainees and himself. No ICE agents were injured. After the shooting, Marcos Charles, the ICE field office director of enforcement and removal operations, said Jahn used ICE tracking apps. He did not say which ones.There have been more than 1 million downloads of the ICEBlock app, according to app tracking firm Appfigures. Downloads took off in June, according to the firm. That month, ICE ramped up immigration raids in Los Angeles. Demonstrators protested the raids, and some downtown stores were looted. The Trump administration sent the National Guard to the city without a request from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a controversial move that critics called political theater and an attempt to intimidate and terrorize residents.A federal judge ruled Sept. 2 that the deployment of National Guard personnel and Marines to Los Angeles was illegal. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco ruled that it violated a 19th century law that prohibits the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities.Steve KopackSteve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.Phil HelselPhil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.Laura Strickler contributed.

- Latest News - October 3, 2025

Apple said Thursday it is removing an app that allows users to share information about sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, which the head of ICE had criticized

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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 2, 2025, 6:03 PM EDTBy Ryan Nobles, Frank Thorp V and Kyle StewartWASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has become a leading figure in the fight over government funding, but it’s not a role she has asked for. Rather, it’s a role Republicans have thrust upon her.“Chuck Schumer is terrified he’s going to get a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday. “The reason why the American people’s government is shut down is because Chuck Schumer is listening to the far-left radicals in his own party because he’s terrified of a primary challenge.”Republican after Republican has used Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive star, as a foil in their argument that Democrats are going overboard in their demands to end the shutdown. They claim she and the left wing of the party are pressuring their more moderate leadership to hold firm.Ocasio-Cortez made it clear in an interview with NBC News that Democratic leadership is driving the party’s strategy. “They’re saying this stuff about me in the press, and the fact of the matter is I can tell you, in the seven years that I’ve been here, they [Republican leaders] have never given me a single phone call, because they know what the truth is,” she said. “They know that the people that they need to be negotiating with, and who they are negotiating with, are Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer,” the House and Senate Democratic leaders, both of New York. Vance; House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La..; Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.; and President Donald Trump continue to claim Schumer, in particular, is feeling pressure because of the possibility that Ocasio-Cortez might want to challenge him in the Senate primary in 2028. Ocasio-Cortez, who is in her fourth term, didn’t rule out a Senate bid but instead said it’s not something with which voters are concerned.“People are going to die. Nobody cares about some election years from now. They care about if their kids can get insulin, if they can put food on the table,” she said.She said that her caucus remains “tremendously united” in its demands to end the shutdown and that she and her fellow Democrats aren’t intimidated by White House threats around mass layoffs and funding cuts. She said it’s not necessary for her to be front and center in the negotiations.“It is so important to understand that these people are all talk. They are all talk. They are negotiating with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, and Democratic leadership and Democrats are united to that end.” Ryan NoblesRyan Nobles is Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent for NBC News.Frank Thorp VFrank Thorp V is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.Kyle StewartKyle Stewart is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House.Brennan Leach contributed.

- Latest News - October 3, 2025

In an interview with NBC News, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says her caucus is “tremendously united” in demand to end shutdown.

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Oct. 2, 2025, 7:39 PM EDTBy Gordon Lubold, Courtney Kube and Yamiche AlcindorThe Trump administration informed Congress in a confidential notice this week that President Donald Trump has “determined” that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and that members of the organizations can be targeted as unlawful combatants.“The President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States,” the notice said.”In response, based upon the cumulative effects of these hostile acts against the citizens and interests of United States and friendly foreign nations, the President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” it added.The designation essentially puts drug cartels in the same legal category as terrorist groups like Al Qaeda or the Islamic State.In recent weeks, the U.S. military struck at least three boats from Venezuela allegedly carrying narco-traffickers and drugs that could threaten Americans, Trump said on Truth Social.The notice to Congress listed examples of actions Trump could take in targeting cartels and cited an attack on Sept. 15 that killed “approximately 3 unlawful combatants.”The White House has defended the strikes.“As we have said many times, the President acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement Thursday.NBC News reported last month that the administration is considering strikes on drug cartels inside Venezuela.Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denied any role in drug trafficking and has repeatedly alleged that the United States is trying to force him from power.Many critics of the strikes, including congressional Democrats and some Republicans, maintain the administration still does not have the legal authority to target the drug cartels using the U.S. military and that it remains a law enforcement matter relying on interdiction. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also acting national security adviser, has declared interdiction efforts ineffective.Gordon LuboldGordon Lubold is a national security reporter for NBC News.Courtney KubeCourtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.Yamiche AlcindorYamiche Alcindor is a White House correspondent for NBC News.

- Latest News - October 3, 2025

The U.S. military has recently struck at least three boats from Venezuela allegedly carrying narco-traffickers and drugs that could threaten Americans, Trump said on Truth Social.

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