ICE surveillance is a warning on data protection and privacy rights

MANILA, Philippines – When we think about data privacy and its importance, the first thing that probably comes to mind is that safeguarding our data reduces the chance of being scammed online. 

That is all fair and well. It is by far one of the most important reasons why we shouldn’t be exposing our personal data willy-nilly online, lest we fall victim to social engineering scams and tailor-made phishing messages. 

But arguably, a bigger reason is that data can be weaponized against a population. 

We’ve already seen it with Cambridge Analytica, which collected data to influence and sway people’s opinions, most infamously linked to the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Brexit. 

But more recently, the surveillance tactics of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are showing us why we must constantly train ourselves to be vigilant with our own actions to protect our data, and to push back against firms and the government that may attempt to impinge upon our data rights. 

ICE in its aggressive efforts to deport 1 million individuals a year have relied on many technologies spanning facial recognition, license plate monitoring, social media analysis, the use of aggregate data from other government agencies to enhance their targeting abilities, the potential use of facial recognition systems in private establishments as well as ad tech data from data brokers, and possibly, even malware.

It is, at a glance, a sweeping, coercive, surveillance dragnet brought about by what the Electronic Frontier Foundation called a “surveillance shopping spree.” While it is the US that is currently facing threats from these tools, the situation may serve as a warning to the rest of the world that aren’t already under authoritarian rule. 

Let’s look at some of these tools. 

An expanding surveillance toolkit

On the field, ICE agents use a mobile facial recognition app called Mobile Fortify which uses a database to identify people in the field. US Senator Edward Markey told NPR that this “type of on-demand surveillance” is one that “chills speech and erodes privacy. It ultimately undermines our democracy.”

Another tool called ELITE (Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement) by Palantir Technologies — which has one of the biggest tech-related ICE contracts currently — allows the processing of aggregate data from multiple sources to target areas with a large immigrant population. 

American Community Media warns of this tool’s ability to distill data from disparate sources into usable information for ICE agents: “If ICE gains access to large administrative datasets — e.g. MedicAid or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) — ICE can then use AI to merge that personal data with commercially available cellphone and social media data, together with license plate data, to make surveillance and arrests still easier.”

What does this tell us? The data that we provide to the government, if siloed, may not be as useful for surveillance. 

But if various agencies pool that data, and it is processed for easy human readability and processing, then it becomes a more potent weapon. 

Reports have pointed out that the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) and ICE agreed on information sharing agreements that included tax data, while the EFF said that data from the US Department of Health and Human Services has also been used. 

“This kind of consolidation of government records provides enormous government power that can be abused. Different government agencies necessarily collect information to provide essential services or collect taxes, but the danger comes when the government begins pooling that data and using it for reasons unrelated to the purpose it was collected,” the EFF writes.  

If the data that a government collects from various agencies is pooled, it is able to form a better picture of the individual — a more accurate digital clone — which, in turn, could open up dangers such as political or electoral manipulation, the targeting of critics, journalists, or perceived enemies of the state, or real-world physical harm to citizens. 

Public-private cooperation has been observed in the US as well.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) highlighted a “BOLO” (Be On The Lookout For) program that, in one case, saw a grocery store chain called Wegmans and Rite-Aid drug stores scanning not just for accused shoplifters but also for people from a list submitted to the company by law enforcement. 

The organization did not specifically tie the program to ICE, but it said that it remains possible that law enforcement may turn over such information to ICE, expanding its surveillance dragnet further. 

Similarly, a company called Flock has a network of automatic license plate readers, providing data on a person’s driving habits, available to police departments, which can then potentially turn over data to ICE. 

Wired, just a few days ago, reported that ICE has also made a request from companies for “ad tech” products. 

The site said that it is the “first time” that “ad tech” has specifically requested such a product, underscoring “how tools originally developed for digital advertising and other commercial purposes are increasingly being considered for use by the government for law enforcement and surveillance.” 

Equally worrisome is the Trump administration’s revival of a deal with Israeli-based Paragon, a company that made a malware called Graphite — software that was reported to have been used to target citizens and journalists earlier in 2025. 

Graphite, NPR wrote, can “can start monitoring a phone — including encrypted messages — just by sending a message to the number. The user doesn’t have to click on a link or a message.” 

AI is also being employed, such as an AI-powered social media monitoring tool by a company called Carahsoft Technologies, said to have been used by the Israeli military as well. 

Holding the line on data privacy

This is not an exhaustive list but even with this incomplete listing, it’s easy to see one government’s all-encompassing efforts to surveil its populace, trampling on digital rights — and something that we wish to never see on our shores.

That’s why it’s important to hold the line on this matter. ICE’s on-ground efforts are greatly powered by digital technologies — technologies that people interact with on a daily basis, from social media to advertising trackers to real-world surveillance cameras. 

We have to be aware that where we share our data, where we leave our digital footprints, the permissions we allow on apps, the apps we continue to choose using, the types of public surveillances we already allow, and the rules that the government or its agencies may attempt to pass (i.e. social media verification), can all dictate how digitally free we are in the future. 

Your digital self, you data, it’s an extension of yourself. We own our data. And protecting it is a way of holding the line, before it even translates to real-world harm. We need to continue to build a mindset of protecting our data and data rights just as we would protect our physical selves, otherwise it could, again, very well lead to not just being scammed but to abuses by the government, and outright oppression. – Rappler.com