ICE, the US immigration enforcement agency, has drastically revised its plans for outsourcing immigrant-tracking work to private surveillance firms. Previously, a pilot program was proposed with a cap of $180 million and limited payouts of up to $90 million per contractor.
Now, under a new plan, ICE will pay as much as $281.25 million individually to contractors and guarantee at least $7.5 million in initial task orders for each company. These higher payments are intended to attract prime-tier contractors capable of standing up the necessary staffing, technology, and operations to perform this work.
The updated proposal includes contracts that authorize other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue their own orders under the program. Private investigators will be tasked with verifying the locations of individuals targeted for removal, using a range of methods including commercial data brokers, open-source research, and in-person visits when necessary.
One change made by ICE is that contractors will no longer have access to its internal case-management systems, which contain sensitive information such as photos and biographical details. Instead, DHS will export case packets containing personal data on each target, limiting the contractor's exposure to federal systems but still placing large volumes of information at risk.
This new approach signals a significant shift from an experiment to a core component of ICE’s removal operations, indicating that contractors are now expected to stand up entire field operations under the agency's supervision.
Now, under a new plan, ICE will pay as much as $281.25 million individually to contractors and guarantee at least $7.5 million in initial task orders for each company. These higher payments are intended to attract prime-tier contractors capable of standing up the necessary staffing, technology, and operations to perform this work.
The updated proposal includes contracts that authorize other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue their own orders under the program. Private investigators will be tasked with verifying the locations of individuals targeted for removal, using a range of methods including commercial data brokers, open-source research, and in-person visits when necessary.
One change made by ICE is that contractors will no longer have access to its internal case-management systems, which contain sensitive information such as photos and biographical details. Instead, DHS will export case packets containing personal data on each target, limiting the contractor's exposure to federal systems but still placing large volumes of information at risk.
This new approach signals a significant shift from an experiment to a core component of ICE’s removal operations, indicating that contractors are now expected to stand up entire field operations under the agency's supervision.
This is just getting weirder by the day! So now they're like outsourcing immigration enforcement to private companies and expecting them to handle it like it's a regular business deal? I mean, what's next? Selling people's info to the highest bidder? 
It's like they want these contractors to become the new ICE agents or something... 
And now they're not even getting access to the internal systems? That's just crazy talk! Who's going to vet these private investigators and make sure they don't mess up? It's all so suspicious. 
what's next, private investigators being paid to spy on their own families? 
think about it, they're gonna be hunting down people in public places, using all these cool tech tools... but at what cost? our privacy is already a joke, and now the government is just gonna hand over our personal info to these contractors like it's nobody's business 
ice is just handing over the keys to a private surveillance state, and we're all just gonna be living in it 
]
. I mean, we're already dealing with way too much surveillance in our daily lives, and now it seems like private firms are gonna be tracking immigrants all over the US? It just feels so invasive 
. And what's up with contractors not having access to ICE's internal systems anymore? That just means they'll have to rely on their own resources and technology... which can be sketchy at best 
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. Are they gonna be able to verify people's locations using open-source research and whatnot? And what about the whole 'commercial data broker' thing? Is that even legit? 
. I mean, what's to stop them from misusing that data? They're already making huge payouts, which raises concerns about accountability 
. And what about the contractors having access to sensitive info? That's a huge red flag 
. Can someone explain how this is gonna work without more scrutiny?