Trump Admin. Now Deploying Controversial Surveillance Tool in Immigration Crackdown
Detroit News reports on "troubling" use of Stingrays in hunt for undocumented immigrant
As the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans continue to push for a harsher immigration crackdown, new reporting reveals that FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents employed a controversial surveillance technology known as Stingrays to hunt down undocumented immigrants.
According to Electronic Frontier Foundation's Adam Schwartz, the The Detroit News report, based on a federal search warrant affidavit, marks "the latest sign of mission creep in domestic deployment of battlefield-strength surveillance technology."
As the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has explained, the devices, obtained by police to purportedly tackle terrorism,
typically mimic the cell phone towers that your phone connects to. They trick cell phones within their range into thinking they are a legitimate cell phone tower and force phones to connect by masquerading as the strongest nearby cell signal. This enables the user of the cell site simulator to identify phones in the area, the location of their possessors, and in some cases to intercept metadata and/or actual content of cell phone transmissions (including data, calls, or text messages). Even if law enforcement is targeting a particular phone or person, it will incidentally collect sensitive information from all other phones in the area that connect to it. In some cases, this may also prevent nearby bystanders from making calls. So, the use of this technology compromises the privacy and safety of large numbers of ordinary people.
In this case, The Detroit News reported, the
secret device [either a Stingray or an upgraded version of them known as Hailstorm] was used in March by a team of FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Metro Detroit to find Rudy Carcamo-Carranza, 23, a twice-deported restaurant worker from El Salvador whose only brushes with the law involve drunken driving allegations and a hit-and-run crash.
"Few law enforcement spying technologies are a greater threat to digital liberty: by their very nature, [cell site simulators or] CSSs seize information from all of the people who happen to be nearby. So government should be barred, for example, from using CSSs to hunt down traffic scofflaws, petty thieves, and undocumented immigrants," Schwartz wrote.
The ACLU expressed concern the surveillance tool was used in this way, and filed a Freedom of Information Act with ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seeking information on how the Stingray devises are being used, with what frequency, and how bystanders' data is being protected.
"We're troubled to see evidence of ICE using invasive surveillance equipment for immigration enforcement purposes, especially given this administration's hyper-aggressive approach in this area," said ACLU attorney Nathan Freed Wessler. "It's crucial that the government release this information so the public can understand how immigration authorities are using Stingrays and what limits they're placing on this technology."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
As the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans continue to push for a harsher immigration crackdown, new reporting reveals that FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents employed a controversial surveillance technology known as Stingrays to hunt down undocumented immigrants.
According to Electronic Frontier Foundation's Adam Schwartz, the The Detroit News report, based on a federal search warrant affidavit, marks "the latest sign of mission creep in domestic deployment of battlefield-strength surveillance technology."
As the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has explained, the devices, obtained by police to purportedly tackle terrorism,
typically mimic the cell phone towers that your phone connects to. They trick cell phones within their range into thinking they are a legitimate cell phone tower and force phones to connect by masquerading as the strongest nearby cell signal. This enables the user of the cell site simulator to identify phones in the area, the location of their possessors, and in some cases to intercept metadata and/or actual content of cell phone transmissions (including data, calls, or text messages). Even if law enforcement is targeting a particular phone or person, it will incidentally collect sensitive information from all other phones in the area that connect to it. In some cases, this may also prevent nearby bystanders from making calls. So, the use of this technology compromises the privacy and safety of large numbers of ordinary people.
In this case, The Detroit News reported, the
secret device [either a Stingray or an upgraded version of them known as Hailstorm] was used in March by a team of FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Metro Detroit to find Rudy Carcamo-Carranza, 23, a twice-deported restaurant worker from El Salvador whose only brushes with the law involve drunken driving allegations and a hit-and-run crash.
"Few law enforcement spying technologies are a greater threat to digital liberty: by their very nature, [cell site simulators or] CSSs seize information from all of the people who happen to be nearby. So government should be barred, for example, from using CSSs to hunt down traffic scofflaws, petty thieves, and undocumented immigrants," Schwartz wrote.
The ACLU expressed concern the surveillance tool was used in this way, and filed a Freedom of Information Act with ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seeking information on how the Stingray devises are being used, with what frequency, and how bystanders' data is being protected.
"We're troubled to see evidence of ICE using invasive surveillance equipment for immigration enforcement purposes, especially given this administration's hyper-aggressive approach in this area," said ACLU attorney Nathan Freed Wessler. "It's crucial that the government release this information so the public can understand how immigration authorities are using Stingrays and what limits they're placing on this technology."
As the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans continue to push for a harsher immigration crackdown, new reporting reveals that FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents employed a controversial surveillance technology known as Stingrays to hunt down undocumented immigrants.
According to Electronic Frontier Foundation's Adam Schwartz, the The Detroit News report, based on a federal search warrant affidavit, marks "the latest sign of mission creep in domestic deployment of battlefield-strength surveillance technology."
As the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has explained, the devices, obtained by police to purportedly tackle terrorism,
typically mimic the cell phone towers that your phone connects to. They trick cell phones within their range into thinking they are a legitimate cell phone tower and force phones to connect by masquerading as the strongest nearby cell signal. This enables the user of the cell site simulator to identify phones in the area, the location of their possessors, and in some cases to intercept metadata and/or actual content of cell phone transmissions (including data, calls, or text messages). Even if law enforcement is targeting a particular phone or person, it will incidentally collect sensitive information from all other phones in the area that connect to it. In some cases, this may also prevent nearby bystanders from making calls. So, the use of this technology compromises the privacy and safety of large numbers of ordinary people.
In this case, The Detroit News reported, the
secret device [either a Stingray or an upgraded version of them known as Hailstorm] was used in March by a team of FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Metro Detroit to find Rudy Carcamo-Carranza, 23, a twice-deported restaurant worker from El Salvador whose only brushes with the law involve drunken driving allegations and a hit-and-run crash.
"Few law enforcement spying technologies are a greater threat to digital liberty: by their very nature, [cell site simulators or] CSSs seize information from all of the people who happen to be nearby. So government should be barred, for example, from using CSSs to hunt down traffic scofflaws, petty thieves, and undocumented immigrants," Schwartz wrote.
The ACLU expressed concern the surveillance tool was used in this way, and filed a Freedom of Information Act with ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seeking information on how the Stingray devises are being used, with what frequency, and how bystanders' data is being protected.
"We're troubled to see evidence of ICE using invasive surveillance equipment for immigration enforcement purposes, especially given this administration's hyper-aggressive approach in this area," said ACLU attorney Nathan Freed Wessler. "It's crucial that the government release this information so the public can understand how immigration authorities are using Stingrays and what limits they're placing on this technology."