ICE's $125 million contract aims to watch 1 million people and flag crime "before crime and fraud can materialize." Who's checking?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a $125 million contract to Thomson Reuters Special Services for a system that can monitor 1 million individuals, FedScoop reports, with ICE documents describing data analysis aimed at "identifying potentially criminal and fraudulent behavior before crime and fraud can materialize." The records, obtained by the group Democracy Forward through a public records request and shared with FedScoop, show the goal isn't new. A CACI contract that ran from September 2020 to March 2025, with $106 million obligated, gave ICE and Homeland Security Investigations a "continuous monitoring and alert service" drawing on sources including the "deep web." For the new system, ICE pointed to data such as court records, social media posts, international travel data, geolocation information and property records. Asked what oversight exists to prevent misuse, a DHS spokesperson said the agency would "not comment on law enforcement sensitive methods." Patrick Eddington of the Cato Institute called predictive systems "a prescription for constitutional rights violations at scale." Jake Laperruque of the Center for Democracy and Technology said lawmakers have "given them a bulldozer and simply trusted it will always be someone safe behind the wheel." Democracy Forward, which obtained the records, is sharply critical of the administration, so weigh its framing accordingly. To be fair, ICE and HSI have real investigative jobs, and the earlier contract spanned two administrations. That's exactly my point. My standard doesn't change with the party in power: a system that watches a million people and tries to predict crime before anyone commits one should worry you no matter which party holds the keys. My view: Congress should write the rules now, including a warrant requirement for sensitive data like location, independent audits and public reporting, before the next contract makes this machine even bigger.