Tech company Apple removed ICEBlock — the most popular app to track the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — and similar apps from its App Store, it said on Thursday after it was contacted by US President Donald Trump's administration.

The ICEBlock app alerts users to ICE agents in the area, allowing them to evacuate migrants who may be arrested.

Curtailing illegal immigration has been one of the central domestic policies in Trump's second term at the White House. However, reports suggest that ICE agents, often in masks using unmarked vans, have also detained permanent US residents, visa holders and those involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy.

'Safety risks'

US broadcast channel Fox Business reported on the app's removal and cited US Attorney General Pam Bondi saying the Justice Department had contacted Apple to pull the app from the platform.

The US Justice Department and Trump's administration have said the apps endanger officers by increasing the risk of assault on ICE agents.

"ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed," Bondi said in her statement to Fox Business.

The criticism has increased after a shooting at an ICE facility in Texas in September killed two detainees and injured another. 

Officials said the shooter was targeting ICE agents and was using similar apps in the days leading up to the attack.

"Based on information we've received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store," Apple said in an emailed statement.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery