Padlet removes ‘People over Papers,’ a mapping tool tracking ICE raids

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on Oct. 8, 2025.

People Over Papers, an interactive mapping tool that tracks crowdsourced ICE sightings, has been taken down by the digital platform Padlet.

One of the project’s creators, Celeste, who requested her last name remain private for security reasons, said she received no advance notice before Padlet removed the tool Sunday morning. “I reached out to them pretty immediately. At first, I thought I had done something wrong,” she said.

About two hours later, she said, a Padlet customer representative notified her that People Over Papers was “trashed due to violations” of its content policy and that it couldn’t be restored “at this time.”

Celeste shared the message from Padlet with Boyle Heights Beat, which reached out to Padlet for comment, but had not received a response as of publication. A notice on the project’s former web address alerts users that the People Over Papers padlet “is in the garbage.”

“Our robots detected that this padlet was being used for things we don’t approve of. So we have deleted it,” according to the notice.

Part of a larger crackdown on ICE tracking tools

The removal comes just days after Apple took down ICEBlock and other similar apps that allow users to report and view the locations of federal immigration agents. According to the Associated Press, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi demanded Apple “remove ICEBlock” and claimed it is “designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs.”

Similarly, Laura Loomer, a political advisor to President Donald Trump, called on the CEO of Padlet to take down the mapping tool and referred to People over Papers users as “radical left wing domestic terrorists” who “harass ICE agents.”

“Despite tech companies bending a knee to the requests or wants of people in higher authority, we know that this is protected free speech, and we are going to continue to exercise that for as long as we can,” Celeste told The Beat.

New website launches

Celeste said the People over Papers team, which is made up of about 50 volunteers, foresaw this happening and began working on a new website months ago. Though they planned for a later launch, Padlet’s removal sped up the release.

The new website, iceout.org, launched on Sunday.

People Over Papers kept the same domain that was hosted on Padlet and rerouted it to the new site. Celeste said their servers crashed on Monday due to a high level of traffic. People Over Papers announced its new website across social media.

“That seemed to get people aware of it. … We just got a bunch of people submitting, wanting to access it,” she said.

Having control of their website will allow People over Papers to roll out new features, such as sending push notifications alerting users of immigration enforcement activity once they set a radius.

“What people can expect is probably better communication between us and the user,” Celeste said.

The tool has become particularly valuable in Los Angeles, where users travel across multiple counties for work. “This allows them to just see the activity all in one place, regardless of county, city or state lines,” Celeste said.

From TikTok to national platform

People over Papers began tracking crowd-sourced ICE sightings in January in several states like Alabama, Texas and California. Celeste, a user on TikTok, says the mapping project emerged after she and other TikTok creators began collecting ICE activity on a Google spreadsheet. The tool became a lifeline for users seeking help and sharing updates once the immigration raids started in June.

Since its creation, People over Papers has received more than 19 million unique visitors and has been averaging between 200,000 and 300,000 users per day, according to MIT Technology Review.

The project began without any restrictions, allowing anybody to submit and automatically publish a sighting, but moderators soon began reviewing submissions before publishing.

Volunteers verify submissions of suspected ICE activity through a process that includes reviewing images, conducting reverse Google Image searches, cross-referencing with other sources and confirming details through news reports or rapid response networks.

“What distinguishes us from other applications is our moderation process,” Celeste said, adding that they’ll soon start recruiting for more moderators.

The work is personal for Celeste, who comes from an immigrant household. She has described these efforts as a “labor of love.”

“The thing that keeps me going is [that] people are interested in this. … People want this, and I just keep reminding myself that this is temporary,” Celeste said.

Kristen Muller contributed to this report.