❓WHAT HAPPENED: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is seeking to hire private investigators, bounty hunters, and skip tracers to locate and track immigrants for deportation purposes, according to government documents.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: ICE, private contractors, and vendors tasked with skip tracing services under the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The contracts, which could total up to $180 million, involve operations across the United States and are part of ongoing efforts under the Trump administration.
💬KEY QUOTE: “To achieve a higher level of confidence, the vendor may physically verify the alien’s location and presence, preferably confirming their home or work location,” according to the documents.
🎯IMPACT: The initiative is part of a broader strategy to expand illegal immigration arrests and detentions across the country.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to hire private investigators, including bounty hunters and skip tracers, to locate tens of thousands of immigrants as part of an effort to expand deportations. Government documents indicate that ICE has an “immediate need” for services such as physical surveillance, skip tracing, and the collection of verification documents.
The contracts, which could amount to as much as $180 million, involve tracking over one million immigrant homes through what ICE refers to as “enhanced location research.” This includes gathering utility bills, photographs, and other documents to confirm an immigrant’s residency or employment status. Vendors would receive batches of 50,000 addresses to investigate and must provide time-stamped photographs and reports on the physical locations of targets.
Documents state that vendors are required to comply with all laws regarding data collection and privacy. The contracts also outline the potential use of surveillance technology for real-time tracking and emphasize the importance of transparency in the skip tracing process. “The vendor should prioritize locating the home address and only resort to employment location, failing that,” the documents add.
This effort is part of a larger push under the Trump administration to increase illegal immigration arrests and expand detention space. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division is also seeking to hire 10,000 new agents by next year.
The administration has allocated significant funding to immigration enforcement under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), making ICE one of the most well-funded policing agencies globally.
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