A New York woman says she was confronted by two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who demanded she remove an Instagram post identifying the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good. Paigelynne Gonyea told Syracuse.com the agents visited her while she was working as a poll worker in Syracuse on Tuesday, claiming they were investigating threats she made against ICE personnel.
The agents carried copies of her social media posts and her driver’s license, and presented her with a form warning she may have violated federal law by threatening a federal official or their family through her account, she said. “They tried to scare me into signing it while I was working,” Gonyea told the local news outlet.
Post Identifying ICE Agent
Gonyea believes the post in question was made in January, identifying by name the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good on Jan. 7 in a Minneapolis neighborhood. “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted,” she wrote on Jan. 8, referring to Jonathan Ross, who as of Thursday has not been indicted in Good’s death. Gonyea cited a news report in her post for Ross’ identification; Ross’ name is otherwise public information and widely known.
A protester holds a sign reading "ARREST JONATHAN ROSS" during a rally for Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 8, as seen in an Associated Press photo.
Denial of Doxxing
While Gonyea wrote on Instagram Wednesday that the agents were questioning her about “when I stupidly doxxed Jonathan Ross,” she denied having doxxed him in her interview with Syracuse.com. She said she does not consider it doxxing to quote a news story and call for an indictment. “I didn’t dox his personal information, such as address, phone number,” she said. Doxxing is typically defined as sharing someone’s home address or personal contact information with malicious intent.
Gonyea also shared a photo of the form she claims she was asked to sign. The paper appears to identify her Instagram account by name and states there is “reason to believe” it violated a federal law prohibiting threats of physical harm to a federal official or publicizing their restricted personal information with intent to threaten, intimidate, or facilitate a violent crime.
Voicemail from Homeland Security
She additionally shared a voicemail from someone allegedly identifying themselves as a Homeland Security agent. The person requests to discuss an Instagram post “where you doxed an ICE agent,” according to the recording. Gonyea and representatives with Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment on Thursday.
