Trump goes on spyware purchasing blitz to help ICE find people who they claim want to overthrow of the United States [View all]
Source: The Independent
Friday 17 October 2025 14:58 BST
The Trump administration has gone on a spyware spending blitz to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s mission to seek out undocumented migrants, and people who they claim want to “overthrow the United States Government.” ICE is spending tens of millions of dollars on new spyware contracts, which include eye-scanning apps, software that tracks a phone without a court warrant and can hack into them remotely, and recruiting new staff to man a social media monitoring network.
The agency has relied on surveillance technology for more than two decades. But since Trump designated the movement known as Antifa as a major “domestic terrorist” organization, ICE’s recent spyware spending spree is ringing alarm bells for lawmakers and civil rights groups, who fear it could be used to surveil those who protest the government.
Trump recently described Antifa as “a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, whose home state has been at the center of ICE clashes with protesters outside its detention center in Portland, said he was worried by the contracts. “I’m extremely concerned about how ICE will use spyware, facial recognition and other technology to further trample on the rights of Americans and anyone who Donald Trump labels as an enemy,” Wyden told The Washington Post.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ice-spyware-contracts-protesters-b2847405.html
Full headline: Trump goes on spyware purchasing blitz to help ICE find people who they claim want to ‘overthrow of the United States Government’
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