The U.S. government's appetite for high-tech immigrant tracking has reached a fever pitch. A comprehensive report tracking spending by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol reveals that contracts with technology firms supplying AI-powered surveillance tools have exploded, with 2026 expenditures hitting a record $513 million.
The analysis, conducted by immigration rights organization Mijente alongside legal advocacy group Just Futures Law and the Surveillance Resistance Lab, documents a stunning acceleration in recent years. Contracts with 11 firms identified as surveillance technology providers totaled just over $310 million in 2025, double the 2024 level. Tracing the money back to 2013, researchers found spending hovered below $50 million then, but the trajectory shifted sharply upward under the Trump administration's second term.
Two companies dominate the surge: Palantir, a data analytics powerhouse now considered central to ICE operations, and Anduril, a defense contractor developing AI-powered surveillance towers, drones, and sensor networks. The money flowing to these and other firms funds an array of tools that reads like a surveillance catalog from a dystopian novel: facial recognition applications, social media scrapers, hacking devices and spyware designed to breach phones, data brokers, and "autonomous" border surveillance systems.
The Department of Homeland Security's reach extends beyond simply purchasing off-the-shelf technology. The agency operates a billion-dollar innovation apparatus that funds research, startups, and partnerships designed to shape the very products it later deploys. The Silicon Valley Innovation Partnership provides up to $2 million to startup companies for prototype development. The Small Business Innovation Research program, a DHS component, has distributed $845 million across 500 companies since 2004, channeling federal money to tech-focused firms so they can achieve commercial viability.
Recent funding awards reveal the scope of ambition. The Trump administration has allocated money through these programs for tools that harvest biometric data from cellphones and AI systems capable of analyzing airport security camera feeds to automatically catalog passengers' physical characteristics.
Paromita Shah, executive director of Just Futures Law and one of the report's principal researchers, outlined her primary concerns about the funding surge. "We have an agency that has little oversight from Congress receiving essentially a slush fund," Shah said in an interview. She pointed to civil rights violations already documented on the ground and noted that immigration agencies are building infrastructure to conduct invasive surveillance under a domestic terrorism framework that could target U.S. citizens deemed anti-American.
The facial recognition app Mobile Fortify has become one of the most visible tools deployed by federal agents, with thousands of immigrants and protesters having their faces scanned and uploaded into government systems. DHS has publicly disclosed using more than 10 AI-enabled facial recognition tools. Street-level deployment raises troubling questions about consent and warrant procedures, Shah argued, and the practice appears to be creating a database of people who object to immigration enforcement actions. ICE has denied maintaining any database of U.S. citizens protesting its activities.
What caught Shah's attention as particularly concerning was the circular funding structure. DHS doesn't merely purchase finished surveillance products; it actively funds and tests emerging technologies, creating a pipeline where government investment shapes private sector development. "DHS doesn't care if it violates rights, they just want to deploy the tech," Shah stated.
The concentration of power in a single company raised alarms. Palantir's dominance in managing ICE's data systems means one private firm potentially holds the power to define what counts as lawful conduct, what constitutes privacy, and how immigration enforcement operates. Palantir denied in a statement that it collects data, conducts surveillance, or sets immigration policy.
Less visible surveillance tools also merit attention. Equifax, the credit reporting giant, functions as a key data broker supplying information to immigration enforcement agencies, even though ordinary Americans depend on Equifax for credit access needed to buy cars or rent apartments. Other technologies in use include Berla iVE, which extracts data from devices connected to vehicle systems; VeriWatch, a smartwatch-style tracker monitoring migrants awaiting immigration proceedings; and Tangles, an AI system creating dossiers from online presence data spanning social media and financial records.
Drone surveillance represents another frontier. Immigration enforcement has deployed drones during enforcement surges, including in Minneapolis. The difference between a drone floating outside a window peering into homes and an agent requesting permission at a door carries profound implications for privacy and autonomy.
The report traces how venture capital and technology executives have become central to funding Trump's immigration agenda, with DHS functioning not merely as a police force but as a mechanism for channeling taxpayer money to private tech companies. Yet substantial spending remains hidden from public view. "There's a lot the government is not sharing with us," Shah emphasized. "We're absolutely sure we're missing things, and that is the point: we should be worried."
Author James Rodriguez: "This report exposes a surveillance state being built block by block with taxpayer cash and Silicon Valley ambition, and the public has barely noticed."
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