ICE Plans Social Media Surveillance Expansion Across Vermont, California

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to significantly expand its social media surveillance efforts by hiring nearly 30 private contractors to monitor platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X for potential leads related to deportations and arrests. These contractors will staff two 24/7 monitoring centers located in Williston, Vermont, and Santa Ana, California, using advanced subscription-based surveillance software and artificial intelligence to analyze public posts, comments, photos, and messages. The surveillance aims to gather detailed personal information including addresses, vehicles, associates, and other identifying data to support enforcement actions, prioritizing individuals considered national security threats or those with significant criminal records. This initiative is part of President Donald Trump's administration's broader immigration enforcement strategy, which includes setting high daily arrest quotas and leveraging data from multiple federal agencies. ICE emphasizes the program will not involve creating fake profiles to interact online but focuses on cross-source analysis to obtain real-time, individual-specific information for raids and deportations. Critics warn that this expansion could threaten constitutional rights due to the extensive monitoring of social networks.