Lawmakers want answers from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) use of spyware that can access mobile phones without knowledge or consent.
Reps. Summer Lee, D-Pa., Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, and Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., wrote to Noem on Oct. 6 to request more information on a contract with Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions for its software called Graphite.
Lawmakers said Graphite can gain unauthorized access to mobile phone encrypted applications, location data, messages, and photographs.
“Given the Trump Administration’s disregard for constitutional rights and civil liberties in pursuit of rapid mass deportation, we are seriously concerned that ICE will abuse Graphite software to target immigrants, people of color, and individuals who express opposition to ICE’s repeated attacks on the rule of law,” the lawmakers wrote.
Lawmakers noted that while Paragon claims it has safeguards in place to protect against civil liberty and privacy violations, it comes with the ability for “zero-click” access to messaging apps and has been used to spy on journalists and human rights activists.
Allowing ICE officers to use this spyware could threaten Americans’ freedom of speech and movement, lawmakers warned.
“Allowing ICE to utilize spyware raises serious questions about whether ICE will respect Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless search and seizure for people residing in the U.S.,” stated the letter.
The representatives gave Noem until Oct. 20 to provide details on all ICE records on its use of spyware, including Paragon’s Graphite tool, internal legal justifications for deploying such technology in immigration enforcement, and a list of surveillance targets and ICE’s domestic spying strategy.
They also asked whether the Department of Homeland Security had evaluated how the use of Graphite may violate an executive order that prohibits the operational use of commercial spyware that may pose counterintelligence or security risks to the federal government.
Lawmakers also noted in their letter that according to recent Supreme Court rulings, law enforcement must require a warrant before accessing cell phone content or location data.