WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, preliminarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement from relying on a “WARNING NOTICE” that threatened a New York man with prosecution for criticizing ICE — a rare, first-flash court check on the agency’s use of coercive speech threats against a citizen critic.

Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that the notice likely violated David Streever’s First Amendment rights. In a 43-page memorandum opinion in Streever v. Mullin, Contreras wrote that the government’s pursuit “practically shouts” that Streever could be prosecuted “if he continues to engage in his political speech,” and granted in part Streever’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

Streever received the notice after emailing criticism in January 2026 to then-acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. The email — sent amid outrage over fatal ICE shootings in Minnesota — called Lyons a “monstrous human being” and compared him to a Nazi official. Months later, ICE agents delivered a WARNING NOTICE to Streever’s Rochester home that told him he “MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW,” demanded he “discontinue” his behavior, and warned of federal and state prosecution if he continued — according to the court record and contemporaneous reporting by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and The Guardian.

The court held that the notice threatened prosecution unless Streever stopped the criticism, creating an ongoing First Amendment injury by chilling protected political speech. Contreras enjoined DHS/ICE from relying on that Warning Notice, issuing similar threats to Streever, or making good on the threats in the notice while the case proceeds. The injunction is narrowly drawn: the court declined to bar all future investigations, stayed its order for 14 days to allow an appeal, and then the injunction takes effect absent further court action.

That matters beyond one email. When agencies can brand protected dissent a near-crime and hand critics official threats of prison, speech dies quietly — people self-censor under what Contreras called a “sword of Damocles.” Concentrated enforcement power that punishes criticism of itself is exactly the kind of government coercion the First Amendment exists to stop. The government did not even argue in court that Streever’s email was an unprotected “true threat,” FIRE reported.

“I’m deeply relieved that the court affirmed what I knew all along: that I am permitted to speak my conscience in the United States of America, including when I criticize government officials,” Streever said in a statement released by FIRE. The Guardian reported it had contacted DHS for comment.

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