ICE Spent $2 Million on Spyware That Can Secretly Take Over Your Phone and Pull ...

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A U.S. senator wants ICE to explain why it bought a hacking tool that’s already been used to spy on more than 90 journalists and activists abroad. He’s asking whether the agency has turned it on Americans, and ICE has until Aug. 7 to answer.

The tool is called Graphite, built by Paragon Solutions and now owned by REDLattice, and ICE bought it through a sole-source deal with no competing bids.

Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan called the purchase “one of the most significant expansions of DHS and ICE’s surveillance ambitions to date” in a July 23 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, first obtained by CBS News.

Peters isn’t accusing ICE of targeting Americans. He’s demanding the agency say whether it has, who it aimed the software at, where those people were, and what legal authority backed it. He also wants to know if the collected data was shared with other agencies, companies, or nonprofits.

“Misuse of Graphite is not hypothetical,” he wrote, pointing to reporting that the technology was used against more than 90 journalists and civil society members across several countries.

Peters said he’s “deeply troubled how Graphite might be used in the United States to target Americans,” citing ICE’s tracking of protests and social media posts protected by the First Amendment.

The contract traces back to a September 2024 agreement, an October 2024 stop-work order, and a reactivation in August 2025. His staff asked DHS for a briefing in December 2025 and ICE in January 2026 and says it never got a real answer.

Because Democrats don’t control Congress, Peters can’t force ICE to comply. He can only ask, and the deadline he set is Aug. 7.

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A 12-page internal directory obtained by 404 Media gives outsiders their best look yet at how much surveillance and data-analysis firepower sits at the fingertips of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff. Titled "ICE Wide Analytical Tools," dated May 2024, and stamped for internal law-enforcement use only, the record was put together by the intelligence office inside Homeland Security Investigations.

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Thought Catalog’s editorial that offers decisive thinking on culture with a sharp focus on entertainment news and commentary, mental health writing and timely self-help topics.