U.S. immigration authorities are set to greatly increase their social media monitoring by hiring nearly 30 contractors to work around the clock analysing posts, images, and messages on platforms like X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. This information will be used to identify individuals for arrests and deportations.
ICE plans to base these contractors at two of its targeting centres: the National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center in Vermont and the Pacific Enforcement Response Center in California. The teams will not only monitor mainstream social media but also lesser-known and foreign platforms such as Russia’s VKontakte. Contractors will also use commercial databases like LexisNexis Accurint to collect detailed personal data, including property and phone records.
The agency demands fast turnaround times, with urgent cases processed within 30 minutes and most within hours. ICE is also exploring artificial intelligence tools to boost surveillance, building on its ongoing use of Palantir’s “ImmigrationOS” platform, which integrates vast data streams for enforcement purposes.
This expansion has caused concern among privacy advocates worried about overreach, especially given past ICE cooperation with local police that bypassed legal restrictions. A controversial spyware contract with Paragon Solutions, capable of hacking encrypted messaging apps, was reactivated despite earlier bans, raising fears over targeting immigrants and activists.
Critics highlight that ICE’s collection of location and social data risks sweeping up irrelevant personal information, eroding privacy rights. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and ACLU have criticised these practices as threats to liberty.
ICE defends these measures as necessary improvements, saying social media data helps uncover hidden identities and behaviour traditional methods miss. However, watchdogs warn such surveillance often extends beyond immigration enforcement, encroaching on political expression and collecting data on innocent family and community members.