ICE Is Buying a Tool to Track Hundreds of Millions of Phones, Without Warrants Overview ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is purchasing access to a surveillance tool that collects billions of location data points daily from hundreds of millions of phones. This move reverses restrictions from the Biden administration on warrantless commercial location data purchases and significantly expands ICE’s surveillance capabilities inside the U.S. The contract was awarded to PenLink, a Nebraska-based surveillance company, known for geolocation data mining, mass communications interception, and real-time tracking, operating mostly without public scrutiny. Background and Details In 2018, ICE signed a $2.4 million contract with PenLink for telecommunications data analysis tools used in real-time internet and social media monitoring. The new contract selects PenLink again because of its comprehensive platform that merges location data and social media monitoring to track and analyze people’s movements and social networks precisely. The tool enables: Locating individuals within a single city block. Constructing detailed social graphs from proximity patterns. Real-time alerts for specific target movements, meetings, or communications. These surveillance practices bypass conventional judicial oversight, as agencies do not need warrants due to data acquisition from commercial aggregators rather than direct telecom providers. Context and Implications The Department of Homeland Security, under Biden, had paused commercial location data buys following legal violations uncovered by an Inspector General. Under Trump, these surveillance programs have been resurrected, expanded, and institutionalized. ICE’s utilization reflects a broader strategy to fuse federal data with commercial surveillance tools, creating a state apparatus with significant power and minimal transparency. Similar tools have been misused before — for example, attempts to algorithmically assign "gang membership" have wrongly labeled toddlers as gang members. Related Surveillance Tools ICE is also using other invasive technologies, including: Graphite spyware – can infiltrate encrypted Signal messages and turn phones into surveillance devices via camera/microphone. Flock’s license plate reader network. Clearview AI’s facial recognition databases. Palantir’s data-analysis systems. Parallels and Warnings The approach mirrors Russia’s buildup of its surveillance state: Centralization of telecom data. Deployment of SORM for mass interception and geolocation. Targeting immigrants and minorities first, then expanding surveillance to political opponents, journalists, and citizens. ICE targets immigrants as a test case, but capabilities can extend broadly. This trajectory risks eroding legal protections and enabling political weaponization of surveillance technologies. What Can Be Done The issue has received little media coverage; public awareness and action are critical. Recommended actions include: Spread awareness about ICE’s warrantless phone tracking. Demand congressional oversight, hearings, and restrictions on warrantless surveillance. Support watchdog organizations such as ACLU, EFF, and Citizen Lab. Protect personal devices by keeping software updated, using Lockdown Mode, and limiting location sharing. Visual The article features an image of federal agents at an immigration raid site in Camarillo, California, illustrating ICE’s enforcement activities. --- This summary is based on the investigative work by Olga Lautman and available reports, highlighting a critical development in U.S. domestic surveillance policy.