U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expanding its use of advanced surveillance tools.
Politico reported that critics warn the government's actions could lead to a vast expansion of domestic surveillance that goes far beyond immigrants, but did not acknowledge that the same technology is also being used against ICE agents.
Federal procurement records show ICE is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on technology such as facial recognition software, social media monitoring tools, license plate readers, drones, and data services designed to locate where people live and work.
The investments align with President Donald Trump's push for aggressive immigration enforcement, including what he has described as the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.
The technology buildup is occurring alongside executive actions that have loosened restrictions on how federal agencies share and use civilian data, raising concerns from privacy advocates about government access to personal information.
Civil liberties groups argue that the combination of expanded tools and relaxed safeguards increases the risk that surveillance could extend beyond immigration enforcement into monitoring American residents.
Democrats in Congress and officials in several blue states have criticized ICE's growing access to government databases and have moved to limit the agency's use of state-level records.
Some Republicans have expressed support for ICE's acquisition of surveillance technology, stressing that its use must comply with constitutional protections and existing privacy laws.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., warned that the issue goes both ways.
In September, she said that facial recognition technology is being used to identify and endanger ICE agents, arguing that publicly accessible tools are being weaponized against federal law enforcement.
In a letter to PimEyes CEO Giorgi Gobronidze, Blackburn wrote that she was raising "deep concern with PimEyes's artificial intelligence facial recognition technology and the harm it poses to individuals' safety and privacy," citing reports that activists used the tool to identify at least 20 ICE officers by name and photograph.
"Online foreign activists should not be weaponizing generative AI to threaten and endanger our federal officers and their families," Blackburn wrote, warning that reverse image search systems "can be used by gangs like MS-13 and Tren De Aragua to target ICE agents and their loved ones."
She cited Department of Homeland Security data showing that, as of July 2025, ICE agents experienced "a nearly 700 percent increase in assaults," and said the release of agents' identities places them "directly in harm's way."
Blackburn argued the technology raises broader risks, writing that a "publicly accessible digital library of individuals' lives and likenesses in the wrong hands poses unthinkable risks," including doxxing, stalking, and child exploitation.
The senator introduced legislation to criminalize the public release of federal law enforcement officers' names when intended to obstruct immigration enforcement operations.
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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