She posted about ICE. Five months later, DHS agents told her to take her post down

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/26/nx-s1-5871369/new-york-ice-instagram-immigration-dhs-paigelynne-gonyea

Paigelynne Gonyea has more than 100,000 followers on TikTok, where she posts a mix of comedy and skincare product reviews. On Instagram, where she has more than 33,000 followers, she occasionally posts about politics — including about violence committed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last winter.

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While she was there, she got a voicemail from someone identifying himself as a Homeland Security special agent calling from a New Jersey number.

"We were just by your apartment," the caller said, adding he had gotten her phone number from her significant other. "We were just calling you in reference to a post that we believe you made on Instagram where you doxxed an ICE agent back in January."

Gonyea denied to NPR she had ever doxxed an ICE agent. Doxxing usually refers to releasing sensitive personal information such as addresses and phone numbers. However, the Trump administration has tried in recent months to broaden the definition.

In a statement to NPR that came after this story first published, a DHS spokesperson said Gonyea had committed a federal crime by publishing an ICE officer's address online. But DHS has so far not offered evidence to back up that claim.

"Where is the address?" Gonyea wrote to NPR after she was made aware of DHS's statement. "I literally have looked through my social media carefully and I do not see an address."

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Gonyea said the agents asked her to sign a document that claimed her Instagram account might have violated a federal law that says it is unlawful to threaten or intimidate a federal officer. The notice, which is from ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, warns "YOU MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW" at the top. The notice reads, "OPR is requesting that you promptly remove and/or discontinue the aforementioned behavior."