fOr many undocumented immigrants living in the United States, the constant threat of ice raids turned their homes into prisons. Leaving the house to go to work, to school, buying groceries or a doctor’s office can be unimaginable risks.
The problem that Joshua Aaron wants to solve. He became an app entrepreneur who was a former independent musician (who played bass in the 2000s pop band The Rosenbergs and later led his own team to steal Heather) and set out to make an app that could spot ice and remind people, just like other drivers in the same way that other drivers knew about Waze’s traffic stops.
IceBlock, released in April 2025, has no intention of making a profit in April 2025, providing real-time alerts about the presence of agents, while Aaron claims to strongly protect the anonymity of its users. In two months, the app soared on the charts of Apple’s App Store – prompting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to attack the app and its founders, claiming they are “impeding justice.” She claimed she wanted to work with the Justice Department to try to sue CNN for reporting on the application.
Noem’s intervention ensured that the app was on the chart within days (although it has since left the top 100). Then, last month, Aaron’s wife, Carolyn Feinstein, was fired by her Judicial Department in Austin, Texas. The couple believes that while Feinstein is not involved in the creation or promotion of the app, the app is clearly “revenge”.
Aaron is an unlikely figure in this field – he has a brave, rock-and-roll manner and doesn’t have much experience in immigration activism. His background raises some questions about how the app protects users, especially when it requires you to always keep location data. But many independent investigations suggest he is trying to make users anonymous.
Aaron spoke with The Guardian a week after his wife was arrested.
First of all, what’s wrong with your wife? Why was she fired?
They fired her from me. They can’t shit on me. I won’t be afraid. So they fired her.
Do they have a clear statement about why they should fire her?
No, it’s the crazy part, and in her termination letter she was accused of lack of candidness, but they didn’t mention the app. but The Justice Department responded to each reporter who stretched out five minutes. Do they have a prepared auditor statement in Austin? In the U.S. Department of Trustees? They have nothing to do with immigration. They have no relationship with DOJ, which is an entire department that can handle bankruptcy.
What did they say?
They have this prepared statement accusing her of threatening law enforcement officers, endangering Icefield Agents and all this horrible shit. This is very different from her termination letter. The whole thing started with Laura Wimble disturbs her on x Then she said she talked to Tom Homan. Homan continues to news Max And said he talked to the Justice Department, obviously [headed by] Pam Bondi. Twenty-four hours later, my wife received a termination letter from the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Justice. It’s obvious that it goes from Weaver to Homan, to Bondy, to “You Are Fired.” That’s it.
It must be difficult for your family.
She has worked there for nearly a decade. She has decades of experience in the private sector and she is really good at her job and loves everyone she works with. They basically fired her and accused her of all these horrible things, which is not true. Really, really bad. She missed it very much.
Are you worried about other ways Trump administration Will retaliate?
OK, you have Pam Bondi accuse me explainI’d better be “beware of it”. Please, come. Am I better be careful? Why? I am protected in the First Amendment. This is totally legal, I’m sure of that – I checked with multiple constitutional attorneys and criminal attorneys before posting this app because I was worried about whether I was protected. Everyone agrees 100% this is a protected speech.
Can you briefly explain my methodIs CeBlock effective?
Well, it can only be downloaded from the U.S. app stores, and people can only report sightings within the current five-mile radius. All sightings were then deleted four hours later. So, suppose there are 100 people in the five miles, and one person sees the ice – they walk down the street, anyway – they go, “Oh, damn.” They report. In the five-mile radius, all other users receive a notification that appears directly on their phone.
The app has been playing for many months. Do you know that those who are worried are actually used to it Ice?
I don’t know because it’s 100% anonymous. We do not track these metrics. I keep getting asked, “Where are most of your users?” I have no fucking idea. “How many witnesses do you have every hour?” I don’t know. We don’t track this. It’s so difficult to answer these basic questions that normal applications can answer because there is an entire core principle of anonymity. We don’t have this data, and I don’t want it. The only thing I can tell you is that currently on the app, we have 445 witnesses nationwide [likely over a four-hour window due to the fact that sightings stay up for four hours once reported] And, we have only about 1 million users now installing it on mobile phones.
But it was downloaded by the well– Support liberals who support what you are doing? Or are you doing practical work and helping undocumented people as practical tools in life? Maybe we don’t know yet?
I would say that most people who download the app are doing this to keep themselves safe, so they want to know what the five-mile radius is like. So yes, I think its intention is very suitable for use. I don’t want to build this, but it’s necessary. It is a tool because this early warning system really keeps people safe and, I think, it gives people peace of mind, especially those who are most affected or at risk. It allows them to go to that restaurant or stroll through that neighborhood with a little confidence.
What were the initial fears and challenges? Are you worried about whether the Apple App Store wants to allow it?
How confident am I? I don’t want to sound conceited – don’t print it, so I sound like an asshole – but, man, I can do it the fuck. Of course, I can do it. Even with a music career, I built an audio studio and was a producer and hybrid engineer, and I designed the gear. So I’ve been in the same technical engineering aspect as the way my brain works. I’ve been coding healthcare applications for the past four years. So, can I write the code? Can I achieve it? This is a crazy simple app. Will it be approved by Apple? That’s an interesting thing because something like this has never been done before.
When I took it to Apple and submitted it to the App Store, it was delayed, and it took three weeks back and forth with higher Ups in Apple’s legal department and Apple’s App’s App’s reviews, almost every day, talking to senior people there, which is even legal: Will we do that? Will we have this problem? ”
It’s hard for Apple to wrap its head around it because they’re like, “What do you mean you will never make money? What do you mean you will never track anything?” I was like, “Yes, that’s the point. I don’t care.” I don’t care about people’s data, but being able to get analytics or track or sell their data. I don’t care about anything. I care about keeping people safe. Literally, that’s the point. Eventually they allowed it to continue. (Apple and the Justice Department did not return requests for comment.)
Because there is no user account and no way to see what is happening on the app, it is impossible to stop bad actors. Does this mean that people are likely to report false witnesses?
I can’t verify the sightings without driving to rural Indiana to see if they are there. I have made the guarantee: you can only report sightings every five minutes so you can’t just spam the database; four hours later, all sightings are deleted; it must be a real address – you can’t type at 123 Ave; and you can only report within your own five-mile radius. So with all these safeguards – are there any false witnesses? Yes, of course there is. Are they common? No, because it’s too time consuming. Anyway, what is the worst case for false discovery? The user is notified on his device and says, “Hey, will I stay away from that address for a few hours?” Who shits.
So, what is your personal interest in developing these applications besides helping people? You are also developing a healthcare app that also focuses on keeping patient data private.
Yes, my whole thing is very, very focused. I don’t use Gmail. I run my own mail server. I run my own web server. I keep doing this because I just don’t trust companies that are reading all your messages and they do it to harvest your data and the market. I want to be private. I am an individual. I think this has a big opinion on IceBlock.
IHave mine Ice cubes open When we called, I area.
Yes, wouldn’t it be nice to know? I mean, you are British, obviously you are not a native-born American. So now you know that you might not be in that area for the next few hours. It’s no big deal.
This interview has been edited and condensed to clarify
Health & Wellness Contributor
A wellness enthusiast and certified nutrition advisor, Meera covers everything from healthy living tips to medical breakthroughs. Her articles aim to inform and inspire readers to live better every day.
