The Chicago Sun-Times is demanding the Department of Homeland Security remove its photos from government social media pages under threat of legal action after the newspaper says the federal agency repeatedly used its photos in posts.
In a letter sent Thursday night and addressed to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and the agency’s acting general counsel Joseph Mazzara, Sun-Times attorney Steven Mandell said DHS had used three of the newspaper’s photos in social media posts from the past week. The letter said the Sun-Times would file a lawsuit for intellectual property right infringement immediately if the photos are not removed from government social media accounts.
“These usages are blatant infringements of [Chicago Sun-Times Media’s] intellectual property rights,” the letter states.
The usage without authorization “is particularly egregious,” the letter says, because it implies the newspaper “endorses” the Department’s immigration enforcement activity.
“In fact, it is imperative that, as a news organization, CSTM maintains its independence in order to fairly report on government agencies,” Mandell wrote. The department’s “false implication that CSTM gave permission for its intellectual property to be used in connection with the Department’s publicity campaign damages CSTM’s credibility and interferes with its ability to report on these issues.”
A graphic posted to X last Friday was titled “Cicero” in the style of a movie poster for the film “Sicario.” It included a photo of federal agents walking on Michigan Avenue that was taken by Sun-Times photo desk editor Ashlee Rezin, Mandell wrote. The image appeared alongside photos of President Donald Trump, Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commander-at-large Greg Bovino.
The caption reads: “Cicero or Sicario: A Day of Crashes. October 22nd was one of the most violent days faced by DHS law enforcement since the beginning of Operation Midway Blitz. To the rioters: you will not stop us or slow us down.”
A video montage posted Tuesday on X showed Bovino with the overlaid text, “We will not be stopped.” That montage used photos taken by Rezin and Sun-Times video journalist Zubaer Khan, the letter states. It was released the day Bovino appeared in a federal courtroom to face questions about the deployment of tear gas in the Old Irving Park neighborhood the weekend before, leading to the cancellation of a local children’s Halloween costume parade as clouds of the chemical agent hung over the route.
The letter notes that the government could be liable for statutory damages of up to $150,000 per violation.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.