DHS Hiring Contractors to Use AI for Immigrant Locating, Raising Privacy Concerns
The Department of Homeland Security is paying private contractors billions of dollars to use artificial intelligence and public records to locate migrants accused of being in the United States illegally. The process, known as "skip tracing," enables ICE agents to conduct targeted arrests at scale.
DHS provides contractors with up to 50,000 names per month, according to reporting by The Washington Post. Contractors then use AI, facial recognition software, online databases, and surveillance to find individuals as quickly as possible.
Thirteen companies have received open-ended contracts totaling approximately $1.2 billion to find and photograph immigrants for ICE arrests, according to an investigation by Scripps News. Some of these companies had no prior experience in immigration enforcement.
Scale and Accuracy Questions
The American Immigration Council estimates the program could target more than 1 million people. The nonprofit released an analysis last week warning that the system raises serious legal and ethical questions.
"Skip tracing is not just about finding people. It is about building a system - a surveillance supply chain in which artificial intelligence amplifies existing legal and ethical concerns," the American Immigration Council said in its report.
Facial recognition and AI assistance are not foolproof. Contractors are paid bonuses for speed - earning additional money for locating individuals within one to two weeks - rather than for accuracy. This financial incentive structure creates risk that innocent people could be arrested based on faulty data.
Details about which databases contractors access, how data accuracy is verified, and how errors are corrected have not been made public, the nonprofit said.
Potential Conflicts and Privacy Issues
One contractor, BI Incorporated, is linked to Geo Group, a for-profit prison company that operates ICE detention facilities. BI now locates immigrants who are then detained by its sister company for unknown periods.
The American Immigration Council warns that privileged attorney-client information could be collected and shared with ICE under this data-sharing arrangement, including clients' addresses.
Skip tracing has long been used by debt collectors, bail bondsmen, and private investigators. Its application in government immigration enforcement represents a significant expansion of surveillance authority to private actors.
The Intercept estimates that 1.5 million immigrants could be targeted using the combination of digital tools and in-person surveillance.
A DHS request for information published in October indicated the agency was seeking skip tracing and process serving services to verify immigrant addresses, investigate alternative addresses, and deliver documents to individuals. The deadline for vendor responses was November 5.
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