ICE was investigating him over an email. Now, he's suing.

While traveling with his 7-year-old daughter, David Streever got voicemails, a business card and a knock on the door of his New York home from federal immigration agents – over an email he wrote five months earlier to an immigration official. Now, he's suing the Department of Homeland Security.

On Jan. 26, Streever wrote an email to Todd Lyons, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In three paragraphs, he criticized Lyons in response to two people killed by immigration officers in Minnesota, Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.

"You are a monstrous human being and will go down in history as America's Reinhard Heydrich, the butcher," Streever wrote at the time, according to the new lawsuit filed July 6. "The way you are protecting the obvious execution in Minnesota, even as we see the videos, will lead to your downfall."

"You will never know peace. 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 torment yourself until your last day on Earth."

On June 23, immigration officers knocked on his door while he was in Finland, and they handed his wife a warning notice for "criminal activities," the lawsuit's complaint said. His wife said he was out of town, and days later when coming back from Finland he checked into a New York City hotel with his daughter, officers tracked down his hotel and dropped off a business card, and they left voicemails on his cell phone, according to the lawsuit's complaint.

In response, he's suing Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and David Venturella, head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with two ICE officials and three ICE agents working on the investigation. He filed the lawsuit July 6 in Washington, DC's, federal court, alleging the department was retaliating against him based on protected speech under the First Amendment.

"Streever's email is core political speech – criticizing a government official and government policy – that sits at the highest rung of First Amendment protection," wrote Streever's attorneys from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a national free-speech group, in the lawsuit filing.

FIRE is arguing in the lawsuit that the five-month delay in taking any action on Streever's email undermines any claim the department could make about it being a credible threat, and that an "objectively reasonable person" wouldn't perceive the email as "intent to commit an act of unlawful violence."

The lawsuit comes amid ongoing criticism of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration agenda, demonstrated in a drop in public opinion polls for federal government's tactics, large-scale protests at No Kings rallies and thousands of students walking out of their schools to protest ICE. Additionally, the lawsuit noted that Streever wasn't the only person to receive such a notice, since another New York resident, Paigelynne Gonyea, obtained a similar warning the same day.

DHS defended its actions in Gonyea's case on social media.

"This individual didn't just post 'about ICE' - she committed a FEDERAL CRIME by posting the address of an ICE law enforcement officer online," DHS posted on X on June 27. "Doxxing federal law enforcement officers is a federal crime that puts their lives and their families in serious danger. This danger is NOT hypothetical."

A DHS spokesperson said in a July 6 statement that ICE investigates all credible threats.

"Any allegation DHS and its components are attempting to ‘squash' free speech is categorically FALSE. ICE investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director," the spokesperson said. "As a matter of policy, we do not comment on any ongoing investigations.

"Our law enforcement officers are on the frontlines arresting terrorists, gang members, murderers, child sex abusers, and rapists. They are experiencing coordinated campaigns of violence against them and facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats.

"Anyone who assaults or threatens our law enforcement officers will face the consequences."

In a statement, Streever said he cherished the "right to speak openly about issues of public concern." He said he was deeply upset after shootings in Minnesota in January, and he felt compelled at the time to do something about it.

"Writing an email to the head of ICE seemed like the least I could do to express my sense of outrage. I never dreamed it would lead to a knock on my door by federal officers or descending on my hotel in the dark of night," Streever said.

This story has been updated to add a comment from the Department of Homeland Security.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA TODAY Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ICE was investigating him over an email. Now, he's suing.

Reporting by Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY

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