By: Business Insider
Date: May 2, 2022
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be paying surveillance software company Trust Stamp $7.2 million annually to develop tech to track migrants processed at the southern border, new federal documents show.
Trust Stamp’s contract, which was renewed in April, has it providing ICE with 10,000 smartphones that include the company’s app with facial recognition and GPS tracking, according to the documents. ICE then gives these smartphones to migrants in order to surveil their whereabouts and behavior daily.
The renewal comes just two months after several US lawmakers, led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, demanded that the Department of Homeland Security reduce its surveillance of migrants through ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program. The program involves “supervised release and enhanced monitoring” for migrants that ICE thinks are “not considered a flight risk” or have a “humanitarian reason for their release.” Trust Stamp’s contract is through this program, the documents show.