ICE Planning $100M 'Nightmare' Domestic Spy Program

runako

"one of the components that caused former intelligence contractors’ concern was that ERO ONE agents will analyze both classified and nonclassified information to produce “network, link and relationship” analyses." Should the federal government be tracking our interpersonal relationships? Should an immigration officer be privy to the timing and manner of communications that I, a citizen, have with other citizens? Why? Why should ICE be able to collect this information when domestic law enforcement generally has to show probable cause to a judge to gather similar information? Who decided to make ICE the country's supreme law enforcement agency? Related, ICE is arresting citizens on fake immigration charges[1]. Some US citizens have been deported. US citizens "can't" be deported, but ICE has supralegal powers. Should we have a law enforcement agency that is not bound by our laws? Why? What guardrails does it have if not law? Who defines those guardrails? 1 - https://projects.propublica.org/american-citizens-detained-d...

gib444

So, a Stasi more or less? Or perhaps KGB is more accurate

outside1234

It is just crazy to me that people traded their rights away just because they got mad at some DEI programs and trans people.

t1234s

This seems like a problem, reaction, solution scenario where Big Tech was always the solution and needed a problem and a reaction.

ShinyLeftPad

"enforcement and removal", from the actual name, sounds lots worse than "spying" in fact it sounds uncannily similar to what a bunch of organizations in USSR were doing to citizens, like NKVD and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka

HoldOnAMinute

Hot take: This is a grifting and jobs program, not an actual solution to a real problem.

jimmydoe

I'd rather my tax money wasted on get US people watched and silenced, than bombing schools and killing children in Middle East. I mean if I can choose, I want my tax money spent on making Americans healthier, but I don't get to choose. ICE has $70B to spend, this is just 1/700. I'm sure they will do more before next congress trying to crawl back their money.

binlog

No one spoke out when the government started abducting US citizens (who happened to be brown) off the street and killing them in detention centers or putting them on deportation planes to random countries without any due process. This is just the next logical step of the program. All authoritarian governments handle dissidents in this way.

lurker919

So 700k a year for 142 analysts who might analyze this very comment someday and trace it back to me, great.

rl3

The specific clearance requirement may suggest Section 702/FISA capability being employed. If that ends up being the case, then you're talking a reality where American citizens become the target of warrantless domestic surveillance, using data collected by the NSA. Every phone call, e-mail, text message, DM, group chat; anything a person has ever said or done in their digital lives going back years. It's worse now with AI, because human effort is no longer required to read intercept transcripts or conversations. Instantaneous surfacing of dirt/leverage.

kittikitti

YCombinator and their lackies in Big Tech have promoted these types of abuses to occur. The comment section here will be filled with people who lack any substance but will gladly provide lip service. The stories of the modern day Gestapo cannot be told without Silicon Valley.

chinathrow

US of A fone fully rogue. With the help of the tech bros.

christkv

I thought the NSA already was the internal spy agency?

tombert

Genuine question for people here who still like Trump...does this kind of stuff not scare you?

tedggh

Once they have deported the last undocumented immigrant this system won’t be just decommissioned, it will be repurposed.

nirav72

Anyone cheering for this fail to realize that these kinds of programs never ever go away. Even if their budget is restricted by a future congress, some forms of this will remain. Also, political changes occur every 4-8 years. Sooner or later, the other side will control the same levers. Instead of targeting immigration, it could be used to target a community/ideology/group of individuals you align with.

Ancalagon

Most un-American 142 intelligence operatives to ever exist.

blobbers

Okay, who here doesn't read this $100M and think something along the lines of Dr. Evil... Let's add some levity to the situation, and here's the link: https://youtu.be/EJR1H5tf5wE?si=lGJ7_L0IN31WNMKE

Gurgle1041

(un)fun fact, Deloitte currently staffs what looks like a smaller version of this contract, that this may be intended to replace based on the timing. Example, award ID 70CDCR21FR0000022 on USAspending.gov

m3047

As flawed as the civil service is, it's the notion of "contractors" which concerns me most.