Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to increase its online monitoring initiatives to observe any negative sentiments people make online and collect information on individuals who make threats against ICE personnel or facilities.
Citing an “increased level of external threat activity” directed at senior leaders, personnel and facilities on social media and online posting, the agency put out a request for information back in November seeking companies who can help monitor comments online.
In a 15-page statement of objectives, ICE said it seeks a company that can scour social media, open-source online databases, the dark web and the deep web to find potential threats and identify them to the agency using geolocation, psychological profiles, facial recognition technology and more.
This means a person who is consistently making negative remarks about ICE on social media or posting about a specific person in immigration law enforcement can be monitored by the government agency.
Already, ICE has a $5.5 million contract, for a service with an identical name, with a DC-based security and intelligence contractor called Barbaricum but it is set to expire in March.
The statement of objectives and request for information were posted to a government contracting website in November after Donald Trump won the presidential election with promises to enact an aggressive mass deportation plan.
However, it asked for responses before January 6, 2025 – two weeks before Trump took office.
It is unclear if the objectives and request resulted in any official contract. The Independent has asked ICE for more information.
It is not uncommon for the government to monitor the internet for speech that could be interpreted as threatening or dangerous. Both Democrats and Republicans have highlighted the importance of remaining aware of online rhetoric in protecting lawmakers, civil servants, judges, politicians and more.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation similarly put out a request for proposal in 2020, seeking companies that could monitor social media for certain types of threats.
This would be the second online monitoring contract ICE had in at least five years.
However, a new contract directing a company to monitor online comments and potential threats is aptly timed with Trump’s new controversial deportation and immigration policies.
Across the country, protests have emerged opposing Trump’s harsh policies which have restricted the asylum process, ordered federal law enforcement to conduct raids in some of the country’s biggest cities, directed the military to assist border patrol at the U.S. – Mexico border and sent some migrants to the U.S.’s military base in Guantanamo Bay.
Trump has directed law enforcement to conduct raids and arrests anywhere – even bypassing what are generally believed to be sensitive spaces such as schools, places of worship, hospitals and more.
Under a new online monitoring contract, the government could include more aggressive online monitoring tools to keep closer tabs on those who vocally oppose Trump’s immigration agenda.
The statement of objectives indicates ICE wants a company that can provide feedback on blindspots that may leave ICE leaders vulnerable to attacks online in addition to surveilling sentiments made about the agency and flagging any threats.
The administration has made it clear they have no problem going after local and state leaders who resist Trump’s harsh immigration policies, threatening to file lawsuits or blocking federal funding.
