New York man sues DHS after ICE visits home over email criticizing agency

A New York resident is suing after police officers went to his home to warn him after he sent an email criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership for their tactics in immigration raids.

David Streever, a U.S. citizen living in Rochester, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE in Washington, D.C., on Monday, arguing that officials violated his First Amendment right to speak out against the government, according to the complaint reviewed by Fox News Digital.

While Streever was traveling to Finland with his 7-year-old daughter last month, two police officers came to his home and gave his wife a warning note informing her that an email he had sent months earlier was considered a threat.

In January, after an ICE agent shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good during an immigration raid in Minneapolis, she sent an email to Todd Lyons, then the acting director of ICE.

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In the email, Streever told Lyons that he was a “monstrous human being” who “will never know peace” and “will go down in history as America’s butcher Reinhard Heydrich,” a reference to a Nazi leader.

“The way you protected the blatant execution in Minnesota will lead to your downfall, even as you watch the videos. Even Trump will turn on you until the end, and you will be a sad, despised man eating himself alive in shame at your pathetic weakness,” Streever wrote in the email, according to the complaint. he said.

“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 torture yourself until your last day on earth,” the email added.

When officers arrived at his home, Streever’s wife answered the door and was given a “warning notice” explaining that her husband “may have been violating federal law” for sending his email to ICE’s former acting director.

The notice, reviewed by Fox News Digital, calls on Streever to “immediately remove and/or cease” his “conduct” and states that the notice will be “considered” if he continues to engage in “criminal activity.”

Streever’s wife told officers he was out of the country but would return to Rochester later that week, according to the lawsuit. But federal officers did not wait and tried to confront him at a New York City hotel after he returned from Finland, but they were turned away by hotel staff.

That same night, officers repeatedly called Streever’s phone and left voicemails identifying themselves only as Homeland Security Investigations.

On the train ride home, Streever told her daughter about the possibility of being confronted by federal officers, and the young girl burst into tears, fearing for her father’s safety.

Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression who represents Streever, argued that the email was protected speech under the First Amendment and did not pose a legitimate threat.

David Streever told former ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons that he was a “monstrous human being” who “will never know peace.” (Jeffrey Carlson / Red Dawn Media)

“If someone is actually threatening a government official, you don’t wait five months to take action,” Steinbaugh said in a statement. “The lack of immediate response from authorities indicates that David poses no threat. This pursuit is designed, pure and simple, to intimidate legal testimony.”

Streever said he was shocked that federal officers showed up at his home to question him over his email.

“I value our right to speak openly about issues of public concern,” Streever said. “I hope others will not be deterred from expressing their views peacefully, even if they criticize the government.”

“Like many Americans, I was deeply saddened by the shootings in Minnesota and felt compelled to do something,” Streever said in an earlier statement. “Writing an email to the head of ICE seemed like the least I could do to express my sense of outrage. I never imagined that this would lead to federal officers knocking on my door or descending on my hotel in the dark of the night.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to DHS and ICE for comment.

The lawsuit also names Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, whose office issued a statement claiming that “any allegation that DHS and its constituents are attempting to ‘crush’ free speech is categorically FALSE,” according to the Associated Press.

The complaint asks the court to order DHS and ICE officials to stop “coercion and retaliation” against Streever for her protected speech.

The warning to Streever was served the same week to Syracuse poll worker Paigelynne Gonyea, who said two federal officers confronted her at a polling place during the New York primary to question her about a social media post she made about Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who killed Good.

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Paigelynne Gonyea is presented with a form at a polling place in Syracuse, New York, on June 23, 2026. (Sheilia Milledge via AP)

Gonyea said he believed the warning to him stemmed from a January post in which he shared a photo of Ross with the caption, “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be impeached.”

Her post was made after Ross was identified by the media.

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DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis shared an image of a different social media post from Gonyea and said the woman had shared Ross’ address, but part of the post had been redacted, according to the Associated Press.

Bis said in a statement last week that Gonyea “committed a federal crime by sharing the address of an ICE law enforcement officer online” and that “if you slander our officers, we will investigate you and you will be brought to justice.”