404 Media Scores Leaked Document Detailing The Dozens Of Surveillance Tools ICE Has Access To

from the big-brother-is-actually-a-bunch-of-little-brothers dept

The always-invaluable 404 Media has scored another minor coup. We all know ICE is heavily invested in surveillance tech, ranging from its purchases of cell location data from data brokers to throwing money at Clearview AI, the most notorious of facial recognition tech firms.

But there’s so much more to it than that. On top of the Trump administration trying to force other government agencies to share sensitive data with immigration enforcement agencies, ICE, CBP, and other DHS agencies have access to a plethora of tools, databases, and aggregation services that make it extremely easy to monitors peoples’ lives and movements, whether or not they’re actually the target of enforcement efforts.

Here’s an extremely brief (and, consequently, incomplete) recounting of what’s contained in the document obtained by 404 Media:

A leaked document shows the spread of surveillance and investigative capabilities that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have access to agency wide, from location data harvested from smartphones, to facial recognition apps that can reveal someone’s identity, to tools that let the agency stay anonymous online and approach people undercover. The document covers everything from monitoring social media to tracking the movements of vehicles.

The full document [PDF] lists everything accessible by CBP and ICE. As 404 Media notes, the information may be out of date, since it was apparently generated in 2024. For instance, it doesn’t mention either of the DHS’s newest mobile tech tools (ELITE, ImmigrationOS). And some of the products/services listed may have been phased out, replaced, or dropped entirely.

Still, it’s as disheartening as it is comprehensive. For instance, it shows ICE has access to something called ISO Claimsearch, which “contains information on property and casualty insurance claims, as well as vehicle information.” It also mentions its nationwide shared database of license plate/location data gathered and compiled by Vigilant Solutions and its partners.

For some reason, ICE also has access to the FTC’s database of customer complaints. While any US resident is capable of requesting this same information from the FTC, the FTC will redact the complainant’s personal information. One assumes this doesn’t happen when ICE/CBP ask for it.

It also mentions Clearview as an option for facial recognition. It says access is controlled by “CIEU,” an acronym that isn’t defined anywhere in the document. According to the line item, access is “given out under specific circumstances.” This phrase also goes unexplained. But one of the names listed to contact for access links to a DHS official.

There’s also Insight, which functions like WHOIS, but also mixes in “geo-location data” as well as the “ability to get around privacy registrars” to identify website owners.

ICE also has access to the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Hate Symbols Database, but apparently has no interest in other databases detailing hate groups/symbols that might be a bit more focused on groups that support Trump and his administration (SPLC, for instance, which the government considers to be a criminal organization).

There’s plenty to dig through here, but it’s kind of amazing to see just how much info your average ICE officer has access to. It seems like way more than what’s necessary to do this job, especially since most of the people being ejected from the country these days are residents who’ve made no secret about their country of origin and are simply trying to negotiate the now nearly-nonexistent path to permanent residency.

And what’s in here is the best case scenario: a list of everything ICE has access to, along with contact info for access privileges. What’s not in here is everything else: the abuses, the utilization of local agencies to route around federal restrictions, and the tech that’s being deployed without proper authorization or required Privacy Impact Assessment in place. This leak is comprehensive, but as always, one has to wonder if this is just the stuff the government feels comfortable putting down in writing.

Filed Under: alpr, dhs, facial recognition, ice, location tracking, privacy, surveillance state, surveillance tech

Companies: babel street, clearview, lexisnexis, locate x