ICE Uses Private Data Brokers to Circumvent Immigrant Sanctuary Laws, Report Says

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes use of details brokers to circumvent state sanctuary legal guidelines though tracking immigrants, according to a joint report launched Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and several immigrant advocacy groups.

Nevertheless the sanctuary legislation restrict ICE’s ability to extract info right from state and area law enforcement, the report outlines the extent of ICE’s efforts to bypass people laws by contracting non-public, third-bash facts brokers these kinds of as LexisNexis and its subsidiary Appriss to provide actual-time obtain to immigrants’ own data and whereabouts. 

The report, Sabotaging Sanctuary, follows on the heels of an April investigation by The Intercept, detailing how ICE has contracted LexisNexis‘ information brokerage provider for $22.1 million to surveil immigrants, following earlier utilizing a Thomson Reuters-operated services identified as Obvious. Sabotaging Sanctuary highlights ICE’s use of Appriss in Colorado to get real-time access to point out jail-reserving info. Appriss sends ICE an alert every time someone on ICE’s listing of focused people is booked into a county jail, enabling ICE to arrest the particular person right away on their launch. 

The ACLU of Colorado argues the state’s sanctuary laws are being undermined by all those charged with enforcing them, noting in a Thursday launch that board associates overseeing LexisNexis’ facts warehouse incorporate former Denver and Mesa County Sheriff’s Workplace officers. The ACLU of Colorado’s immigration campaign coordinator, Ana Temu Otting, referred to as on ICE and non-public data brokers to comply with state regulations versus incarceration info-sharing involving nearby law enforcement and ICE. 

“In excess of the previous ten years, immigrants in Colorado have secured fundamental protections and expert services to assure a prosperous lifetime for on their own in the condition, just one of all those guidelines remaining the safety of individual data,” Otting stated in the release. “Yet, tech companies are building the applications applied to surveil, incarcerate, and deport our communities, additional growing the distrust amongst community and govt. Sheriffs, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and tech firms need to comply with state regulation that safeguards the data of all Coloradans.”

In a assertion Friday, the ICE claimed the agency’s use of private knowledge brokers aids its investigations into matters of countrywide safety, this sort of as narcotics smuggling and human trafficking.

“The contract provides an investigative resource that permits the company to quickly and competently take care of info to guide with legislation enforcement investigations,” an ICE spokesperson explained in an emailed statement. “The deal complies with all legislation, insurance policies, and laws that govern facts selection.”

Neither LexisNexis nor Appriss responded to requests for comment. 

Study additional: ICE Uses Databases That Tracks License Plates, Boosting Privacy Fears