---
title: "Federal Agents Tracked a Man Who Sent a Harsh Email to ICE's Director, NPR Reports"
description: "Homeland Security agents visited the home of a Rochester, N.Y., man and later tracked him to an airport hotel five months after he sent an angry email to the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to NPR — leaving notices that he may have violated federal law. No charges have been filed."
category: "U.S."
category_url: https://herald.la/category/us
author: "Simone Bishop"
published: 2026-07-02T05:16:37.000Z
updated: 2026-07-02T05:16:37.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/federal-agents-tracked-a-man-who-sent-a-harsh-email-to-ice-s-director-npr-report
tags: ["ICE", "DHS", "free speech", "First Amendment", "immigration", "us"]
---
# Federal Agents Tracked a Man Who Sent a Harsh Email to ICE's Director, NPR Reports

Homeland Security agents visited the home of a Rochester, N.Y., man and later tracked him to an airport hotel five months after he sent an angry email to the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to NPR — leaving notices that he may have violated federal law. No charges have been filed.

A New York man who sent a scathing email to the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement found federal agents at his door — and later at his hotel — five months later, in a case that civil-liberties advocates say tests the line between protected political speech and a criminal threat.

## The email, and what followed

According to [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/01/nx-s1-5874124/dhs-tracks-ice-critic), David Streever, a 45-year-old Rochester resident and former journalist, emailed Todd Lyons, then ICE's acting director, on January 26, 2026, amid outrage over fatal shootings by immigration officers. In the message, as reported by NPR, Streever called Lyons a "monstrous human being" and likened him to a Nazi official, but made no reference to physical harm.

Five months later, on June 23, Homeland Security Investigations agents came to Streever's home while he was traveling abroad, his doorbell camera showed, NPR reported. They left a "warning notice" stating that he "may be in violation of federal law" and citing statutes that criminalize threats against federal officials. When Streever flew back into John F. Kennedy International Airport days later, NPR reported, an agent located him at his airport hotel and left a business card at the front desk.

NPR reported that agents delivered a similar notice the same day to a Syracuse-area poll worker over one of her social-media posts — a coincidence civil-liberties groups said suggested a coordinated effort.

## The government's position

Homeland Security, in a statement to NPR, said ICE "investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director," and that as a matter of policy it does not comment on ongoing investigations. Despite the warning notices, prosecutors have not charged Streever with any crime, according to NPR.

## Free-speech questions

Streever and his supporters argue his email was protected political expression, not a threat. The American Civil Liberties Union's Nathan Freed Wessler told NPR that while officials need not welcome such messages, "it doesn't get to dispatch federal agents to your door and stalk you across the state of New York."

The episode lands amid heightened tension over aggressive immigration enforcement and the treatment of its critics. The Herald could not independently verify the details beyond NPR's reporting; the account here is drawn from that reporting and the public statements it quotes, and Streever has not been accused in court of any offense.

## Sources

- [He sent a harsh email to ICE's top official. 5 months later, federal agents tracked him down](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/01/nx-s1-5874124/dhs-tracks-ice-critic)
- [He sent a harsh email to ICE's top official. 5 months later, federal agents tracked him down](https://www.krcu.org/2026-07-01/he-sent-a-harsh-email-to-ices-top-official-5-months-later-federal-agents-tracked-him-down)