What We Sought
Under the Trump-Vance administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have aggressively expanded immigration raids, targeting immigrants who were not considered priorities for deportation under previous administrations. Stephen Miller has told ICE agents to arrest migrants anywhere, including outside of their workplaces and in sanctuary locations like schools and places of worship, and also while attempting to follow the law by attending their immigration court hearings. The administration’s actions have swept up children and students, including United States citizens who have been unlawfully deported. Native American tribes, Puerto Rican neighborhoods, and other predominately Latino communities have voiced concerns that their members are being racially profiled and unlawfully arrested.
In a chilling incident in March, ICE officers in masks and normal clothes, and operating unmarked vehicles, detained a Tufts University graduate student on her way to break her Ramadan fast. The use of neck gaiters, masks, sunglasses, and other coverings to obscure ICE agents’ identities appears to be an effort to intimidate migrants, obscure what agency officers work for, and decrease accountability and transparency. It also makes it easier for rogue vigilantes to impersonate ICE officers to harass migrants or commit other crimes, which we have already seen.
The administration has also been signing new contracts to utilize novel technologies and artificial intelligence to conduct immigration enforcement across the United States. Immigration agents have utilized video surveillance, drones, and facial recognition applications to identify protestors or people ICE considers to be rioting, attacking ICE officers, or acting on behalf of Antifa or so-called left-wing extremist organizations. The administration is also deploying automated license plate reader (ALPR) capabilities used by local law enforcement to identify immigrant targets. ICE also finalized a contract with Paragon Solutions, which makes incredibly invasive spyware that can reveal the entire contents of a target’s phone or computer without their knowledge.
We have now heard of the apparent usage of private contractors to conduct immigration enforcement across the United States. According to 404 Media, there is a pilot program that looks to use taxpayer funds to pay members of former law enforcement and military officers to provide ICE with verified addresses after physically tracking them. This program highlights grave concerns surrounding the surveillance tactics used by this administration.
The Trump-Vance administration and its agencies claim to only be targeting “violent criminals,” but it is clear that ICE is rounding up immigrants regardless of whether they have broken criminal or civil laws, or no laws at all.
Democracy Forward Foundation is monitoring ICE’s immigration enforcement actions across America.
What We Received
We will provide updates to this page as we receive information.
