Recent documentation reveals that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeks new surveillance technologies. These systems can monitor hundreds of millions of mobile devices and process intelligence from the dark web.
The agency is pursuing various monitoring tools, including sophisticated facial recognition technology and comprehensive location data from mobile devices.
A key surveillance platform called Tangles combines data from various sources, including digital communications, geographic positions, financial information, and publicly available intelligence. Based on government acquisition documents examined by Forbes, this system was initially created by the Israeli firm Cobwebs, established by a former cyber-intelligence specialist.
Cobwebs faced exclusion from Meta platforms in 2021 after utilizing Facebook and WhatsApp to surveil activists in Hong Kong and Mexico. The company subsequently merged with PenLink in 2023, now collaborating with ICE, as reported by The Independent. When approached by The Independent for clarification, both the agency and PenLink remained silent.
The documentation also mentions Venntel, a company that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged in 2024 with “illegally tracking and selling” sensitive information, including data about visits to medical facilities and religious institutions.
During Joe Biden’s presidency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially terminated location data purchases following an inspector general’s investigation that identified legal infractions.
“The Biden administration had shut the door on these practices,” Senator Ron Wyden told The Independent. “Every American should be concerned that Trump’s chosen security force is buying and using location data without a warrant.”
In 2023, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the cessation of such data usage, while Congress passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which restricts government data purchases without judicial authorization.
Since January 2025, the Trump administration has altered this stance. As part of an extensive deportation initiative and unprecedented immigration enforcement funding, ICE has increased surveillance partnerships, including with controversial cybersecurity companies.
The surveillance expansion extends beyond private sector collaboration. New agreements reportedly exist between ICE and other federal bodies for accessing tax and medical records. Sources indicate the agency now has channels to information from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Medicaid, according to multiple media investigations.
Ben Bell, an attorney with the Constitution Project, expresses serious concerns about this surveillance expansion: “This is part of a much broader pattern in which ICE seeks to collect whatever it can—even if that means gathering data on U.S. citizens—which goes well beyond its official mission.”
He warned of potential abuses: “The danger is heightened by recent advances in artificial intelligence, by the massive expansion of ICE surveillance, and by this administration’s willingness to label ideological opponents and protesters as domestic terror threats.”
This development has sparked concerns about the evolution toward generalized surveillance, extending well beyond immigration enforcement.
For civil rights defenders, this situation represents a pivotal moment: testing the boundaries of executive authority in acquiring private data without proper judicial oversight.
