ICE wants to build a 24/7 social media surveillance team

U.S. immigration officials are taking significant steps to broaden their social media monitoring capabilities. Plans are underway to recruit nearly 30 contractors who will analyze posts, images, and messages to create actionable intelligence for deportation operations and arrests. Documents obtained through federal contracting records reveal that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency intends to implement a multiyear surveillance initiative from two of its lesser-known targeting centers. This ambitious program aims to deploy around 30 private analysts at ICE facilities located in Vermont and Southern California. These analysts will be tasked with combing through platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, transforming content into valuable leads for enforcement actions. Currently, the initiative is in the request-for-information stage, a preliminary phase where agencies assess contractor interest before initiating an official bidding process. However, early planning documents indicate ICE's aspirations are high. The agency is looking for a contractor that can provide continuous staffing and meet tight deadlines while supplying advanced, subscription-based surveillance software. The two targeting centers involved in this plan are crucial to ICE's enforcement operations. The National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center in Williston, Vermont, serves much of the eastern United States, while the Pacific Enforcement Response Center in Santa Ana, California, operates around the clock to manage cases in the western region. According to internal documents, each site will employ a mix of senior analysts, shift leads, and researchers. The Vermont center is expected to have a team of twelve contractors, including a program manager and ten analysts. In contrast, the California facility will feature a larger, continuous operational floor staffed by sixteen personnel, ensuring that at least one senior analyst and three researchers are present at all times.