Here is what the first amendment says:

>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The main question here is whether the government is abridging the freedom of speech.

If they are only requesting for removals and not doing it directly, that may not be against the letter of the law but it certainly goes against the spirit. N.B. I'm not a lawyer.

And I'm not going to go into the times that first amendment alone has been trampled, because life is short.