ICE intensifies surveillance of immigrants with facial recognition programs, human tracking, and social media monitoring

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is ramping up its surveillance capabilities to advance the government’s immigration agenda on an unprecedented scale. According to the federal spending site USASpending.gov, the agency signed contractual obligations in September for a $1.4 billion order — the highest in 18 years — for the acquisition of new technologies such as an iris-scanning app they plan to use in the field, spyware that can remotely hack smartphones, and location software that can track phone activity without a warrant, including nearly all social media platforms.

The plan has drawn criticism from Democratic members of congress, civil rights advocates, and former officials who claim that these programs could be used to attack free expression protected by the First Amendment. In this context, Donald Trump ordered an investigation into Antifa, a designated domestic terrorist organization that, in his words, “demands the overthrow of the United States government, law enforcement, and our legal system.” The White House has not presented evidence that the violent attacks against Trump supporters or the federal agency are the work of this group, rather than individual actors.

Added to all this is the tender for the launch of social media monitoring centers in Williston, Vermont, and Santa Ana, California, which seek to expand the agency’s anti-immigrant hunt by collecting data on its targets. The plan (which is subject to change) includes tracking accounts on Facebook, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Reddit, WhatsApp, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr, Myspace, and Google+. ICE indicates that undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes are the main target, but also considers domestic terrorism a top priority and establishes that the contractor must “shift priorities” when necessary.

In response to these actions, the United Auto Workers, Communications Workers of America, and American Federation of Teachers unions filed a lawsuit last week against the Departments of State and Homeland Security for “ideological surveillance” of immigrants in the United States using artificial intelligence (AI), alleging that they seek to “punish” the views of their opponents. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Abigail Jackson issued a statement alleging that left-wing organizations “fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials and more.”

New technologies acquired by ICE

Since its founding in 2003, ICE has deployed a sophisticated arsenal of surveillance technologies, ranging from biometric databases to wiretapping tools. How its new acquisitions will be used remains an open question. Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden told The Washington Post that the agency is still drafting usage policies and only gave its staff a briefing on the matter in mid-September.

Below is a description of the federal agency’s purchases to scale up its operations across the country:

• BI2 Technologies Smartphone Iris Scanning: This is an application developed by Plymouth, Massachusetts-based BI2 Technologies that allows a person’s eye image to be compared in real time against a database of millions of records. According to the company’s website, the program can read a person’s iris from up to 15 inches away, even if they’re wearing glasses. The agency will pay $4.6 million for this contract.
• Clearview AI Facial Recognition: Widely popular with law enforcement, this technology has raised concerns about its accuracy. ICE’s $3.75 million order is the largest public purchase of this software by a U.S. federal agency, according to the Federal Acquisition Data System.
• Graphite, Paragon Solutions’ spyware: The initial $2 million contract will give the agency access to software designed to hack into smartphones and extract data remotely, even if the phones are locked or communication is through encrypted apps. “Graphite can gain unauthorized access to cell phones without the owner’s knowledge or consent, allowing access to encrypted applications, the phone’s location data, as well as messages and photographs stored on it,” wrote members of Congress Summer Lee (Pennsylvania), Shontel Brown (Ohio), and Yassamin Ansari (Arizona) in a letter addressed to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on October 6.
• Penlink’s Tangles and Weblocs Data Systems: With another $2 million contract, ICE will have access to technology that links social media and dark web data to create detailed profiles of individuals. Weblocs, in particular, provides the cell phone locations of targeted individuals, information that can only be obtained with a court order.
• ImmigrationOS: ICE will pay Palantir a $30 million contract to develop a platform that offers detailed movements of undocumented immigrants and those who have decided to self-deport.