ICE Plans to Monitor 'Negative' Social Media Discussion About the Agency and its Top Officials: Report

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is seeking private contractors to monitor online discussions about its operations and leadership, according to federal procurement documents reviewed by The Intercept. The move comes as the Trump administration intensifies its immigration enforcement policies, including large-scale deportation efforts and detainment.

The contract proposal, reported by the news site's Sam Biddle, states that ICE requires "real-time threat mitigation and monitoring services," including the ability to assess "behavioral and social media sentiment" and track "negative references to ICE found in social media." The agency claims the effort is necessary due to increasing threats against its personnel.

Once identified, personal details such as Social Security numbers, addresses, workplace affiliations, and even family members may be compiled. ICE is also requesting facial recognition capabilities to further its investigative reach.

Civil liberties advocates, such as Cinthya Rodriguez of the immigrant rights group Mijente, told The Intercept that the initiative raised concerns that data could be used to scrutinize constitutionally protected speech: "ICE's attempts to capture and assign a judgment to people's 'sentiment' throughout the expanse of the internet is beyond concerning."

ICE is currently monitoring social media posts via contractor Giant Oak, which was hired during the first Trump administration to analyze social media posts and flag individuals based on potentially "derogatory" content as part of immigration enforcement. However, "the goal of this [new] contract, ostensibly, is focused more narrowly on threats to ICE leadership, agents, facilities, and operations," according to Biddle.

The surveillance initiative follows a controversial immigration raid in Colorado last week in which Trump's border Czar Tom Homan blamed media leaks for compromising a large-scale operation targeting the Venezuela-linked "Tren de Aragua" gang in the Denver area. "Their job is dangerous enough," said Homan, who went on to warn that leaks could endanger officers. "We are going to address this very seriously," he added.