SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Apple said on Thursday that it had removed ICEBlock and other similar ICE-tracking apps from its App Store after it was contacted by President Donald Trump's administration, in a rare instance of apps being taken down due to a U.S. federal government demand.
Alphabet's Google also removed similar apps on Thursday for policy violations, but the company said it was not approached by the Justice Department before taking the action.
The app alerts users to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their area, which the Justice Department says could increase the risk of assault on U.S. agents.
[...] Apple removed more than 1,700 apps from its App Store in 2024 in response to government demands, but the vast majority — more than 1,300 — came from China, followed by Russia with 171 and South Korea with 79.
(Score: 2) by aafcac on Friday October 10, @12:10AM (3 children)
They have no criminal records because they haven't been caught and prosecuted, but 100% of them have committed immigration related crimes. That being said, the higher priority ought to be fixing the immigration process and coming down on the companies that are hiring them once the relevant area of immigration has been addressed.
(Score: 3, Touché) by number11 on Friday October 10, @12:45AM (2 children)
If we're going to do that, shouldn't we start with the ones at the top? Melania and Elon Musk both almost certainly violated visa terms by working in the US before they became citizens. Shouldn't we revoke their citizenship and deport them?
(Score: 2) by aafcac on Friday October 10, @12:56AM (1 child)
Yes, definitely. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in favor of most of these people being deported, however having lived somewhere under a visa, I'm very much aware of just how precarious it is, even if you're doing things largely by the book.
There's a bunch of jobs that legitimately can't/won't be done by citizens and people with green cards and we need to fix the visa program for things like farmworkers so that people can legally come and do their work without fear of being deported or taken advantage of. Others like the H-1B visaholders mostly shouldn't be allowed to come under that program until the companies abusing the program are properly monitored and punished for violations.
What I'd personally like to see is the visa programs fixed, but the visas just going to people that are applying either from outside the country or who have some legal basis for being in the country, either a current visa or other program to cover the situation and everybody else has to apply from outside the country. Then come down hard on companies that are trying to hire workers that are supposed to be coming under one of the existing programs.
I think it's probably the most practical and fairminded way of doing it which protects the various parties involved. It's not going to happen any time soon because neither party wants to actually fix the problem.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday October 10, @06:35PM
There's a bunch of jobs that legitimately can't/won't be done by citizens and people with green cards and we need to fix the visa program for things like farmworkers so that people can legally come and do their work without fear of being deported
Or we could raise the minimum wage to a living wage like it was fifty years ago. Americans don't mind hard work, but we're not letting some billionaire steal our labor by paying federal minimum wage or less. Or are you one of those who think that "we" are better than "them"?
Mad at your neighbors? Join ICE, $50,000 signing bonus and a LICENSE TO MURDER!