NYCLU Sues DHS and ICE for Records on Agents' Warning to Syracuse Poll Worker Over Instagram Post

The New York Civil Liberties Union and a Syracuse poll worker sued the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday, seeking records about a June visit in which two federal agents handed her a "Warning Notice" over an Instagram post that named the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis.

The complaint, filed under the Freedom of Information Act in federal court in Manhattan, also asks for records on a screenshot that a DHS spokesperson shared with the Associated Press. The lawsuit says the authenticity and provenance of that image "are therefore seriously in question."

The case is New York Civil Liberties Union v. United States Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-09466, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs are the NYCLU and Paigelynne Gonyea, a Syracuse resident.

The Polling-Place Visit

According to the complaint, Gonyea posted on Instagram on Jan. 8, 2026, the day the Minnesota Star Tribune identified ICE officer Jonathan Ross as the officer who shot Good the day before. The post read in part: "I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted!" The lawsuit says the post did not include Ross's home address or other contact information.

On June 23, the day of New York's primary election, the complaint says Special Agent David Brodie and Special Agent Abbi Henry found Gonyea at the Onondaga County Board of Elections polling site at Syracuse's Central Library, where she was working as a poll worker. The agents gave her a notice from ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility saying the office had identified a post from her Instagram account that it had reason to believe "may constitute a violation of Title 18 of the U.S. Code." The notice asked that she "promptly remove and/or discontinue the aforementioned behavior."

The complaint says Gonyea did not sign the notice and did not delete her post.

The Screenshot DHS Shared

On June 26, DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told the Associated Press that Gonyea "committed a federal crime by posting the address of an ICE law enforcement officer online," according to the complaint, which quotes AP's report. The complaint says Bis shared an image of a different post, captioned "The killer's name is Jonathan Ross of" followed by a redaction.

The lawsuit says Gonyea does not recall making that post, that no copy has been found on her account or in any archive, and that the image appears to be a phone screenshot rather than a link to a live post. It also cites a September ruling in Washington, D.C., in which, it says, a federal judge found a Rochester man likely to succeed on his claim that a nearly identical notice, delivered by the same two agents, unconstitutionally coerced him.

"The public deserves to know if federal officers are fabricating evidence to support baseless accusations of criminal activity against American citizens who demand accountability for ICE's lawless violence," Perry Grossman of the NYCLU said in a statement.

What the Lawsuit Seeks

The NYCLU and Gonyea filed their records request with DHS and ICE on Sept. 10. It seeks nine categories of records, including the materials the agents showed Gonyea, the original files and metadata behind the screenshot DHS gave the AP, any forensic review of that image, and DHS public affairs communications with the AP and NPR.

According to the complaint, DHS acknowledged the request on Sept. 29 and sent three parts of it to ICE. ICE acknowledged it on Sept. 15, denied expedited processing, and took a 10-day extension. The lawsuit says neither agency has released any records.

The plaintiffs ask the court to declare that the agencies violated FOIA, order a full search, and order them to release the records. DHS has not yet filed a response in court, and the docket did not yet list an assigned judge as of Thursday afternoon.

Sources: Complaint, New York Civil Liberties Union v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-09466 (S.D.N.Y., filed Oct. 29, 2026), posted by the NYCLU: https://www.nyclu.org/uploads/2026/10/1.pdf ; Court docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/75038867/new-york-civil-liberties-union-v-united-states-department-of-homeland/ ; NYCLU case page: https://www.nyclu.org/court-cases/gonyea-v-united-states-department-of-homeland-security ; NYCLU press release (Oct. 29, 2026): https://www.nyclu.org/press-release/nyclu-sues-for-records-about-dhs-and-ice-threatening-ny-activist-over-a-social-media-post . Cover photo: Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse, Manhattan, by Ken Lund via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.