ICE Offers Up to $280M to Immigrant-Tracking 'Bounty Hunter' Firms
17 hours ago
- #privatization
- #immigration
- #surveillance
- ICE is expanding plans to outsource immigrant tracking to private surveillance firms, replacing a $180 million pilot with a no-cap program.
- Private contractors will verify home and work addresses of targeted individuals through surveillance techniques like photographing residences and staking out workplaces.
- The new program removes spending caps, allowing contractors to earn up to $281.25 million each, with a minimum $7.5 million initial task order.
- Contractors will handle monthly batches of 50,000 cases from a docket of 1.5 million people, using commercial data brokers, open-source research, and in-person visits.
- Performance-based incentives include fixed pay per case plus bonuses for speed and accuracy, with firms proposing their own incentive rates.
- Private investigators will not have access to ICE’s internal systems but will receive exported case packets containing sensitive personal data.
- This expansion is part of broader efforts by ICE to increase private contractor roles, including armed transportation networks and social media monitoring centers.
- The changes signal ICE’s intent to integrate private surveillance deeply into enforcement operations, with minimal public oversight.