Apps are helping immigrants avoid ICE activity, arrests

Juan Carlos Chavez, Tampa Bay Times on Aug 1, 2025

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TAMPA, Fla. — Juana Lozano’s phone buzzes with more than a dozen alerts each day: police stopping a truck with construction workers, dark-windowed vans near a shopping mall, a mother asking if it’s safe to drive down a certain road.

Lozano says the alerts are part of her routine. She’s a community leader in Central Florida and a member of a Telegram chat group called “ICE Orlando y sus alrededores” (“ICE Orlando and its surroundings”).

The group has more than 500 users sharing warnings about police and immigration authorities. It helps Lozano avoid trouble spots when she occasionally drives mothers and others who have no safe way to get around.

“Most people in this group are looking for safety, for themselves or others,” said Lozano. “People stay in touch, and it’s the community that shares and confirms the information.”

Across the country, a growing number of immigrants and others at risk of arrest due to their legal status are turning to mobile apps, and encrypted networks to avoid encounters with law enforcement.

Tools like Coquí, StopICE.net, SignalSafe, PeopleOverPapers, and ICEBlock are becoming lifelines for vulnerable communities. These platforms offer real-time alerts, maps, and crowdsourced tips that help users track immigration activity nearby.

For community activists and developers these tools are seen as a way to stand up for the rights and dignity of the most vulnerable.

“We agree that the situation is delicate,” said Isaret Jeffers, a community activist who defends the rights of immigrants and farmworkers in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. “That’s why those apps, hotlines, and chat groups are important.”

Coquí, named after a small frog known for its loud warning sound, shares a live map where users can pin, report and see alerts about immigration activity. Markers appear within 10 miles. Coquí sends alerts to users who are within 3 miles of a reported marker. It uses encryption for extra security. The location is never saved or linked to the user’s name or identity. The app has over 10,000 users.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are targeting at least 3,000 arrests a day. As part of a tighter zero-tolerance policy, most people who entered the United States illegally within the past two years are also subject to expedited removal, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

An analysis by the New York Times found Florida this year averaged 64 immigration arrests a day through June 10, second behind Texas with 142. The surge is tied to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ support for mass arrests through the 287(g) program, which lets local agencies help with federal immigration enforcement.

Florida has the most local agencies working with ICE under the program, with 247 statewide, according to the nonprofit publication CalMatters / The Markup.

Another developer, Sherman Austin of StopICE.net, said he built his website and mobile alert service earlier this year after realizing many places like churches or medical facilities were no longer safe from immigration enforcement. His network has more than 460,000 users nationwide. Two decades ago, Austin served a year in federal prison for hosting bomb instructions on his website.

“People on the ground want to know what kind of activity is happening around them,” Austin, of California, said during an interview with the Times on the encrypted messaging app Signal. “They’ve got the right to do it.”

What does the government say about these networks and apps? Nothing good.

A group of Republican lawmakers has asked US Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into ICEBlock. The Trump administration said the apps put immigration agents at risk by showing their locations and possibly leading to threats or violence. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons said there has been an 830% increase in this kind of assault.

The federal government, meanwhile, is also using its advanced apps and tools to speed up deportations. One of them is the CBP Home, which gives non–U.S. citizens the option to leave voluntarily.

Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, executive director at Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, a Central Florida nonprofit that supports immigrant and working-class communities, said technology is critical to protect local communities.

“In the face of this lawlessness and the erosion of our constitutional right to due process, we must use every tool available to protect one another, including technology and community alert systems,” said Sousa-Lazaballet. “We must defend our communities and uphold our humanity.”

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