Trump goes on spyware purchasing blitz to help ICE find people who they claim want to ‘overthrow of the United States Government’

The Trump administration has gone on a spyware spending blitz to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s mission to seek out undocumented migrants, and people who they claim want to “overthrow the United States Government.”

ICE is spending tens of millions of dollars on new spyware contracts, which include eye-scanning apps, software that tracks a phone without a court warrant and can hack into them remotely, and recruiting new staff to man a social media monitoring network.

The agency has relied on surveillance technology for more than two decades. But since Trump designated the movement known as Antifa as a major “domestic terrorist” organization, ICE’s recent spyware spending spree is ringing alarm bells for lawmakers and civil rights groups, who fear it could be used to surveil those who protest the government.

Trump recently described Antifa as “a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, whose home state has been at the center of ICE clashes with protesters outside its detention center in Portland, said he was worried by the contracts.

“I’m extremely concerned about how ICE will use spyware, facial recognition and other technology to further trample on the rights of Americans and anyone who Donald Trump labels as an enemy,” Wyden told The Washington Post.

Trump officials have publicly said the administration’s anti-immigration operation could aid their efforts to target left-wing groups.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the administration would use a “whole-of-government approach to end to any illegal activities.”

“Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more,” Jackson said Thursday. “The Trump Administration will get to the bottom of this vast network inciting violence in American communities.”

ICE was granted more than $170 billion in funding from Congress after it passed Trump’s spending bill in July. In September, ICE signed contracts totaling $1.4 billion, according to USASpending.Gov, which tracks how federal money is spent.

A Massachusetts-based company, B12 Technologies, landed a $4.6 million contract with ICE on September 23 to provide an eye-scanning app that can help agents confirm people’s identities, according to the Federal Procurement Data System.

The technology matches the image of a person’s eye against a database of millions of records, and can get a read on someone’s eye from up to 15 inches away, even if they are wearing glasses.

ICE has used similar technology for a number of years, but the mobile system would allow agents to identify people out in the field, the Post reported.

On September 5, Clearview AI scored a $3.75 million contract with ICE for its facial recognition software, despite concerns over its accuracy. It has been used by police, but has resulted in wrongful arrests previously, according to the newspaper.

Elsewhere, ICE is bolstering its social media monitoring network by recruiting more staff at its hubs in Vermont and California. Contractors would use sites such as Facebook, Instagram and X to generate leads about “individuals who pose a danger to national security, risk public safety or otherwise meet ICE enforcement priorities.” People’s loved ones and co-workers linked to a target on social media could also be investigated under the plans.

There was uproar in recent weeks after the Trump administration restarted a $2 million contract with Paragon Solutions, a spyware company founded in Israel whose products have been accused of facilitating the surveillance of journalists and activists.

The deal had previously been frozen to review whether it complied with a March 2023 Biden administration executive order limiting the use of commercial spyware that could pose counterintelligence risks to the U.S. or that might be improperly used by a foreign government, WIRED reported.

Earlier this month it was also reported that ICE was seeking to buy access to a powerful suite of highly controversial surveillance tools that will allow the agency to monitor people’s locations based on data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones.

In a redacted acquisition document obtained by the tech news site 404 Media, the immigration agency proposes entering into a contract to buy “all-in-one” tools from a company called PenLink that will allow agents to “compile, process, and validate billions of daily location signals from hundreds of millions of mobile devices.”

The document also mentions payments for services involving “face detection,” “advanced face search” and a “dark web data feed.”

The Independent has contacted ICE for comment.

A White House official disputed that the administration’s surveillance tactics threatened the First and Fourth Amendment rights.

“The President’s actions are focused on entities and individuals engaged in organized political violence and domestic terrorism,” an anonymous official told the outlet. “Any other characterization is inaccurate.”

Josh Marcus contributed reporting