Reports in September 2025 indicated that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reactivated a $2 million contract with Israeli spyware firm Paragon Solutions, granting the agency access to sophisticated phone-hacking technology. This action followed the Trump administration’s lifting of a “stop work” order that had been placed on the contract by the Biden administration.
The contract and the technology, called Graphite, have raised serious concerns among civil liberties advocates and lawmakers.
About the Paragon Solutions contract
- What the spyware does: Graphite is a powerful tool designed to remotely hack mobile phones without the user clicking a link. It can extract messages from encrypted apps like Signal and WhatsApp, access photos and location data, and turn a phone’s microphone into a listening device.
- Contract history: The contract was first signed in September 2024. The Biden administration paused it a month later to review its compliance with a 2023 executive order that restricted U.S. agencies from using commercial spyware that could threaten national security or enable human rights abuses. The pause was lifted in August 2025.
- Controversies: Paragon has faced previous allegations of misuse. In early 2025, WhatsApp stated it had found Paragon’s technology being used to target activists and journalists in Europe. As a result, Italy’s intelligence services canceled a contract with Paragon.
Broader ICE surveillance activities
ICE’s access to this technology is part of a larger pattern of expanding surveillance capabilities, which includes other tools and methods:
- Cellphone surveillance: In addition to the Paragon contract, ICE has used “Stingray” devices (cell-site simulators) to track phones. Reports in September 2025 detailed how the agency acquired new cell-site simulator vehicles and maintained a contract with the original manufacturer.
- Biometric and location data: The SmartLINK app, used to monitor migrants awaiting asylum claims, allows ICE to continuously track location and collect biometric data like facial images and voice prints.
- Facial recognition: ICE has contracted with facial recognition company Clearview AI and uses a mobile facial recognition app called Mobile Fortify.
- Commercial data purchases: The agency has reportedly used technology from companies like Babel Street to track individuals by analyzing commercial data collected from online advertising networks.
- Data sharing with other agencies: Through information-sharing agreements, ICE accesses data from federal, state, and local law enforcement databases. This expanded network of databases includes sensitive medical, biometric, and location data.
Concerns and reactions
The use of this technology has drawn widespread condemnation from privacy and civil rights groups.
- Threat to civil liberties: Critics, including researchers from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, argue that tools like Paragon’s Graphite were designed for oppressive regimes, not democracies, and pose a severe risk to Americans’ civil liberties, free speech, and privacy.
- Potential for misuse: Human rights advocates have raised concerns that giving ICE access to such powerful tools will exacerbate existing problems, including potential abuse against immigrants, journalists, and activists.
- Lack of transparency: A lawsuit filed by 404 Media in September 2025 seeks to force ICE to release records related to its contract with Paragon, arguing that the public needs to know how the agency plans to use the technology.
- Counterintelligence risks: Some experts also point to the counterintelligence risk of using mercenary spyware that is sold to multiple governments, as foreign intelligence services could gain insight into the same tools used by U.S. agencies.