📡 The Gutter Report: ICE Wants to Track Your Every Move
Mass surveillance tools could monitor hundreds of millions of phones
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is back in the spotlight — and not for deportation raids this time. According to recently uncovered procurement documents, ICE is reportedly looking to buy into a powerful surveillance system capable of tracking the locations of hundreds of millions of smartphones.
🪖 Militarized presence — ICE tactical units on U.S. streets, blurring the line between policing and warfare.
The tech in question comes from PenLink, a surveillance company best known for building tools like Tangles and WebLoc. These platforms are designed to scoop up and analyze vast amounts of data: phone locations, social media interactions, even movement patterns across entire cities. One description claims the software can “compile and validate billions of daily location signals.”
📷 All-seeing eyes — surveillance cameras multiplying across America’s skyline.
⚠️ Why this matters
Experts and civil liberties groups are already sounding the alarm:
Warrantless spying: Tools like this could allow ICE to track people without court approval.
Targeting immigrants & activists: Critics warn the system could be weaponized against vulnerable communities.
Mass surveillance creep: Once in place, the tech doesn’t just disappear — it expands.
🕶️ Masked and armored — ICE units patrolling protests with military gear and heavy weapons.
💰 Follow the money
Reports show ICE has already spent over $5 million on related surveillance contracts — including social media monitoring and dark web tracking — with PenLink. This new deal would scale that power even further, giving ICE a near-total map of people’s daily movements.
📱 Every step, every signal — our phones are now leashes connecting us to constant monitoring.
🏛️ Legal gray zone
This isn’t the first time ICE has dabbled in location data. Under the Biden administration, the agency was told to stop buying mass phone-tracking tools. Now, under renewed pressure to expand enforcement, it appears ICE is reversing course. Privacy advocates argue this kind of monitoring could violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches. But until it’s challenged in court, the agency has wide leeway.
🌍 From the gutter to the globe
What this means for everyday people is simple: your phone, the thing that wakes you up, tracks your steps, and holds your life — might also be a surveillance beacon feeding ICE. And if they can buy this level of access, what stops other agencies — or even private companies — from doing the same?
This isn’t just an immigrant issue. It’s a freedom issue.
Not for clicks — for clarity.
Good morning and Godspeed.
— Elliott Carterr
