Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement (ICE) intends to renew its contract with an affiliate of data brokerage giant Thomson Reuters at a rate of up to $25 million per year for up to five years to meet an urgent and “multiplied” demand for data that can identify “unaccompanied minors” as well as anyone involved in
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement (ICE) intends to renew its contract with an affiliate of data brokerage giant Thomson Reuters at a rate of up to $25 million per year for up to five years to meet an urgent and “multiplied” demand for data that can identify “unaccompanied minors” as well as anyone involved in “any type of fraud of government funds,” according to a document published in a federal contract registry on Tuesday.
“Due to the new priority of ICE’s mission,” the document says, “there is a need for data to be easily accessible to support the presidential mandate of identifying voter fraud, immigration fraud, and national security.”
The document does not explain why ICE would need to identify unaccompanied minors, which is normally the responsibility of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or how Thomson Reuters data would be used to combat election fraud or immigration fraud. When reached for comment, Thomson Reuters spokesperson Kat Hanley told WIRED that its identification work for ICE may include “verifying the sponsors of children entering the country” to ensure the “well-being and safety” of the children.
The $25 million annual payment marks a dramatic increase in the value of Thomson Reuters’ work with ICE. The previous equivalent contract was worth $24 million in total over a five-year period.
Although ICE has been purchasing data from Thomson Reuters since 2008, the justification for the contract indicates that the Trump administration hopes to expand the scope of how federal immigration officials use Thomson Reuters data. It’s yet another indicator of the widening scope of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states in the document that Thomson Reuters Special Services (TRSS) is “the only contractor” that can provide “continuous monitoring of up to one million people and entities” with “event-based monitoring,” “real-time alerts” and “model-based risk scoring.” The document did not provide examples of such events or risks.
The contract would maintain ICE access to several databases owned by Thomson Reuters, the document says. One of these databases is Consolidated Lead Assessment and Reporting (CLEAR), which provides access to public records and “license plate reader data,” which comes from roadside surveillance cameras. Since 2017, Thomson Reuters has obtained this data from Vigilant Solutions, an automated license plate reading company now owned by Motorola.
Another Thomson Reuters database mentioned in the document is the Continuous Alert Batch Solution (CABS), which, according to ICE, pulls records about people who were recently incarcerated or came into contact with authorities, including “real-time alerts on the latest known location data.”
The contract would also maintain ICE access to Westlaw, Thomson Reuters’ court records database. ICE will also have access to real-time arrest and incarceration records (RTIA and Thomson Reuters Special Services Entity Authority (TEA), which feeds a “risk intelligence” platform called RAPID, according to the Thomson Reuters website.
The software package that Thomson Reuters sells to ICE, the document states, allows the agency to perform “continuous monitoring,” “judicial document retrieval,” “risk assessments,” and “signals of academic risks.” The document does not explain what constitutes an academic risk.
Representatives from ICE, DHS and HHS did not respond to requests for comment. A White House spokesperson referred WIRED to DHS and ICE.
Unaccompanied minors, children who arrive alone in the United States, are not the responsibility of ICE. The care of these children is overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is under the umbrella of HHS and operates independently of immigration authorities. However, in February of last year, ICE agents were granted more access to the database ORR uses to track unaccompanied minors.
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