Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations visited the home of David Streever, 45, a Rochester, New York, resident, on June 23, while he was traveling in Finland with his daughter. The agents told Streever's wife they were investigating an email he may have sent threatening Todd Lyons, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Hours after Streever landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Thursday evening, a third HSI special agent tracked him to the airport hotel where he was staying overnight and left a business card at the front desk.

Streever, a former journalist now working in the tech industry, told NPR he did not send any threat but acknowledged sending a strongly worded email to Lyons' government address in January, shortly after federal immigration officers fatally shot two people in Minneapolis. In that email, Streever warned Lyons that his conscience would torment him for his actions and compared him to a Nazi official. Streever said it was the only email he ever sent to Lyons. His wife, the Rev. Hilary Streever, an Episcopal priest, encountered the agents at their home while arriving with the couple's 2-year-old son and was handed a form reading "WARNING NOTICE" and "YOU MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW" citing statutes criminalizing threats against federal officials.

Civil liberties advocates have criticized the Department of Homeland Security's use of these warning forms, characterizing them as an intimidation tactic intended to silence government critics rather than address genuine legal violations. On the same day agents visited the Streever home, they presented an identical form to a Syracuse poll worker whom they accused of threatening an ICE officer in an Instagram post. The pattern suggests a coordinated effort by HSI to confront individuals who have publicly criticized immigration enforcement.

The actions against Streever represent the latest in a series of moves by the Department of Homeland Security targeting protesters and critics over the past year. Free speech and civil liberties organizations have raised alarms that the use of warning notices and surveillance against private citizens exercising First Amendment rights sets a troubling precedent. It remains unclear whether federal authorities intend to pursue formal charges against Streever or others who received similar notices.