Trump administration targets CNN coverage of migration app

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(Reuters) -The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it was looking into whether CNN could be prosecuted over its report on an Apple iPhone app that alerts users to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their area.

The cable news network said its reporting was not illegal.

The app ICEBlock is the third most popular free app in Apple’s app store in the U.S. ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told CNN the free app could increase the risk of assault on U.S. agents.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking alongside President Donald Trump at a migrant detention encampment in Florida, said she is working with the Justice Department to see if CNN can be prosecuted for reporting on the phone app.

“It’s OK with me,” Trump said, referring to prosecuting CNN.

A spokesperson for CNN, which is owned by Warner Bros Discovery, said in a statement: “This is an app that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it. There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN.”

Representatives for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Noem accused CNN of interfering with law enforcement operations.

“What they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities, operations,” Noem told reporters during the tour of the camp in Ochopee in the Everglades, without citing any specific law CNN allegedly violated in its reporting.

The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protects free speech rights.

(Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)