ICE Uses Private Contractors to Monitor Your Online Voice

Criticizing a government agency online has always carried social risks. But now, under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), it may carry legal ones too. According to watchdog groups and federal contracting records, ICE is actively hiring private surveillance firms to monitor digital spaces for “negative sentiment” about the agency and its leadership. Posts flagged as critical may result in data collection that goes far beyond usernames and hashtags.

This isn’t speculation. Companies like Giant Oak and Barbaricum have documented contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. Their job is to scrape social media platforms, build behavioral profiles, and flag potential threats. Those threats don’t always involve crime or terrorism. Sometimes, it’s just criticism. The software doesn't distinguish between activism and danger. It looks for patterns, keywords, tone, and targets anything that might be deemed hostile to ICE’s public image or operations.

This practice spans administrations. It started under Trump, continued under Biden, and now persists during Trump’s second term. The justification is national security, but the line between vigilance and retaliation is getting harder to see. In some cases, these contractors have been used to vet student visa applicants by combing through years of digital activity. But increasingly, that same infrastructure is being used to identify domestic critics. The criteria remain vague, the process unregulated, and the scope far-reaching.

Once flagged, a user’s online history becomes fair game. Contractors may collect not only public posts but also metadata tied to devices, location, and frequency of engagement. Using facial recognition, they may match names to photos across multiple platforms. Ties to family, friends, and affiliations can be logged to build out a complete profile. The goal is to identify intent. The consequence is surveillance that feels less like national security and more like political policing.

Some of this data collection is automated. Machine learning models are trained to detect negativity through tone and context. But context isn’t always accurate when filtered through code. A sarcastic tweet, a meme, or a political post can be enough to trigger a digital red flag. Once in the system, individuals are unlikely to know how they got there—or how to get out.

ICE has never been known for transparency. It operates with wide latitude under immigration law and has fewer oversight restrictions than other federal agencies. Contracting out surveillance tasks adds another layer of distance between the government and accountability. The work is technically legal, buried in budgets and defense justifications. But the implications for civil liberties are significant.

Online speech is no longer separate from real-world consequences. What begins as a critical post can lead to a government file. The data doesn’t just sit on a server. It informs policy, shapes public perception, and feeds into enforcement decisions. In extreme cases, it may be used to justify visa denials, deportation proceedings, or deeper investigations. And yet, most Americans remain unaware of the reach this digital dragnet has into their daily lives.

The irony is clear. In a country where free speech is protected by the Constitution, speaking freely about government practices can now trigger government surveillance. The tools are advanced, the contractors are funded, and the targets are often ordinary people expressing unpopular opinions.

ICE isn’t alone in these efforts. Other federal agencies have adopted similar tactics. But ICE is unique in its focus and intensity, especially in targeting immigrant communities, advocates, and critics. The result is a growing sense of digital vulnerability among those already at risk of state scrutiny.

The message is unmistakable. Public criticism has consequences, even when it’s legal. The government may not be knocking at your door—but it could already be in your feed.

@Santitos

@salinasmariasantos

Copyright © 2025 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.