Under cover of DHS "counterterrorism," Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for detentions, deportations, tracking, and surveillance of millions of migrants, and for tearing apart families and communities. ICE operates detention centers in Massachusetts county jails and has contracts with several MA businesses and institutions.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is one of two agencies within the Department of Homeland Security which supplanted the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Customs Service when the Department of Homeland Security was established in 2002. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) together employed over 56,000 agents in 2016 -- the single largest police force in the US.
In context, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security following the events of September 11, 2001 and the reorganization of the entire immigration regime under its umbrella explicitly connected immigrants with "terrorism" and immigration enforcement with "counterterrorism." (See separate entry on Department of Homeland Security)
In September of 2002, the Bush administration instituted the "Special Registration" program, which was initially administered under the Immigration and Naturalization Service before being taken over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Special Registration" required all male immigrants over the age of 16 from 25 countries, mostly places with Arab and Muslim majorities, to report to Immigration and Customs to prove their legal status, to be photographed and fingerprinted, and to submit to interrogations about their political views and religious beliefs. Anyone failing to report or found to be "out of status" faced arrest, detention, and deportation. In the first wave of implementation, hundreds of men and male children attempting to register were summarily arrested and thrown into basement lockups in California, where many were verbally and physically abused. (See: "Register or risk deportation: special registration targets men from 25 countries; most are Muslim nations," Lillian Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 16, 2003)
Under cover of these and other sweeping policies against Arab and Muslim men, the Department of Homeland Security also participated along with the FBI in more targeted campaigns of surveillance, arrests, and detentions against Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim political activists who spoke out against US support for Israel or against US imperialism. Prominent cases included Palestinian activists Amer Jubran in Massachusetts, Sami Al-Arian in Florida, and Farouk Abdel-Muhti in New York.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement itself is further divided into Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). By its own description, "ERO manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including identification and arrest, domestic transportation, detention ... In addition, ERO removes noncitizens ordered removed from the U.S. to more than 170 countries around the world." Immigration Customs Enforcement-HSI states that they possess "broad legal authority to conduct federal criminal investigations into the illegal cross-border movement of people, goods, money, technology and other contraband throughout the United States." According to official DHS statistics, ICE, ERO, and HSI together arrested more than 150,000 people in 2019 alone. (The majority of DHS arrests were carried out by CBP agents, who arrested more than 850,000 people in the same year.) ICE ERO runs the system of prisons for migrants, including people arrested by the CBP, imprisoning more than 500,000 people in 2019 alone.
ICE agents are known for raiding homes and workplaces, tearing apart families and communities, brutalizing detainees and holding them in crowded facilities under unlivable conditions. In 2020, medical whistleblowers revealed that migrant women in ICE detention had been subjected to forced sterilizations, and that migrants experienced other extreme forms of medical abuse and neglect.
Multiple Massachusetts state and county prison and police forces participate or have participated in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program. Through the 287(g) program, state and county agencies are deputized to perform the roles of ICE agents as well as share information on arrested and detained individuals with ICE to assist ICE in tracking, detaining, and deporting these individuals. As reported by GBH: "287g agreements allow officers to interview already-detained people in county jails about their immigration status, check the Department of Homeland Security’s databases for information on those individuals, issue detainers to hold individuals set to be released so that ICE can then detain them, and share any information with ICE. They can also recommend and begin the process of deporting individuals." ICE currently holds 287(g) contracts with the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office as well as the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. Until recently, ICE also held 287g contracts with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office (ended September 2021) and the Bristol County Sheriffs Office (ended May 2021).
Additionally, numerous MA law enforcement officials have been designated as "Task Force Officers" (TFOs), a status which grants these MA officials the authority to perform the duties of federal law enforcement agencies, including making arrests of individuals sought by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for detention and/or deportation. Officers from the Boston Police Department as well as numerous other local and county MA law enforcement agencies are known to serve or have served as TFOs. Focusing on the Boston Police, as reported by WBUR in 2019: "Boston police and federal immigration officials regularly offer information back and forth between the agencies. Often, the agencies are comparing arrest records of individuals accused of non-felony violations — like operating a vehicle without a license and shoplifting — to see if they have potential civil immigration violations, and vice versa." The same WBUR report further details, "The flow of information between BPD and ICE largely stems from a contract signed in 2014 by then-BPD Commissioner William Evans and a former U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent, Bruce Foucart. The agreement authorizes the designation of BPD employees to perform the roles and duties of customs officers, with limited exceptions."
Outside of formal collaborations with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, numerous MA law enforcement agencies share information with ICE by entering their field interviews, arrest, complaint, and accident reports, citation reports, and other information into "COPLINK," a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the i2 software company. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to easily access information MA law enforcement officials enter into the platform and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detention, and deportation of migrants.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has operated four official detention centers inside Massachusetts county jails: Bristol County Detention Center (400 Faunce Corner Road, North Dartmouth); Franklin County House of Correction (160 Elm Street, Greenfield MA); Plymouth County Correctional Facility (26 Long Pond Road, Plymouth MA); and Suffolk County House of Corrections - South Bay (20 Bradston Street, Boston, MA). Suffolk County House of Corrections severed its contact with ICE in 2019. The Bristol County Detention Center's contract with ICE was also cancelled in May of 2021, following an attorney general investigation into the Detention Center along with a series of direct action protests against the facility carried out by the group FANG Collective. (Bristol County Detention Center is run by Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who is infamous for his abuse of migrants as well as other inmates. In 2002, Palestinian activist Jaoudat Abouazza was taken into custody by ICE and detained under Sheriff Hodgson in the Bristol County Detention Center, where he was beaten by guards and subjected to torture.)
ICE has several major contracts with local companies and institutions in Massachusetts, including the following: Industrial Video & Control Co., LLC, $10,151,574 (2014-2015), surveillance camera system; Lionbridge Global Solutions, current contract $8,840,022 (multiple past contracts), language translation; Lenco Industries, $9,888,564, armored vehicles and Bearcats; Eclinicalworks LLC, $3,256,748, Eclinicalworks licenses; Gemini Industries, $2,396,790 (2016-2021), LEISI [Law Enforcement Information Sharing Initiative] program management and support; Northeastern University, $2,141,294 (2016-2018), exploratory mapping for big data sets; Northeastern University, $198,754 (2010-2017), support services to assist in development of counter proliferations investigations fusion center; Iron Mountain Information Management, over $4,000,000 in multiple and ongoing contracts, including information storage, digitization of records etc.; Akamai Technologies, $601,299, distributed denial of service Akamai Prolexic Software.
(For more information on policing in Massachusetts, see entry on Boston Police.)
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As Business Insider reported in 2021, "From 2015 to 2021, Amazon used third parties to sell its cloud services at least 16 times to ICE and CBP." As reported in The Intercept in 2022, "To further expand its ballooning logistics empire, the company [Amazon] quietly became a partial owner of Air Transport Services Group Inc., a power player in the air cargo industry that has helped the United States forcibly deport thousands of migrants and, its passengers allege, at times subjected them to horrific abuse en route." ATSG’s aviation subsidiaries include Omni Air International which has become known as "ICE Air." (See entry on Amazon for more details.)
The Arlington Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Arlington Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As reported by WBUR in 2019, "Boston police and federal immigration officials regularly offer information back and forth between the agencies. Often, the agencies are comparing arrest records of individuals accused of non-felony violations — like operating a vehicle without a license and shoplifting — to see if they have potential civil immigration violations, and vice versa." The same WBUR report further claims, "The flow of information between BPD and ICE largely stems from a contract signed in 2014 by then-BPD Commissioner William Evans and a former U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent, Bruce Foucart. The agreement authorizes the designation of BPD employees to perform the roles and duties of customs officers, with limited exceptions."
The Boston Police Department also shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Boston Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
Boston University participates in ALERT ("Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats"), a consortium of nine universities and industry partners who receive grants and other support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct "research, technology and educational development" for DHS. According to an annual report on the program, ALERT supports DHS to "quickly adapt to new research and education priorities related to the daunting mission of DHS to protect our nation from terrorist threats." ALERT includes educational programming targeted to "pre-college, undergraduate, graduate and career professional components" respectively, and includes a "High-Tech Tools and Toys Lab," "an Engineering Leadership Program focusing on Department of Homeland Security Topics," and "workshops and short courses." U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are sub-agencies housed within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Until recently, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) held a 287g contract with the Bristol County Sheriffs Office (ended May 2021). Through the 287(g) program, state and county agencies are deputized to perform the roles of ICE agents as well as share information on arrested and detained individuals with ICE to assist ICE in tracking, detaining, and deporting these individuals. As reported by GBH: "287g agreements allow officers to interview already-detained people in county jails about their immigration status, check the Department of Homeland Security’s databases for information on those individuals, issue detainers to hold individuals set to be released so that ICE can then detain them, and share any information with ICE. They can also recommend and begin the process of deporting individuals."
General Dynamics has provided broad-scale support to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's brutal regime of tracking, detention, and deportations of Black and Brown migrants, which includes the separation of children from their parents at the US/Mexico border. As reported by AFSC Investigate:
General Dynamics is the primary contractor for DHS’ Automated Biometric Identity System (IDENT), “the central DHS-wide system for storage and processing of biometric and associated biographic information.” DHS uses IDENT to store, match, process, and share biometric and biographic information on over 230 million unique individuals. IDENT is an essential tool used by CBP and ICE, as well as local and state law enforcement, to track, monitor, and detain immigrants. It was the key technology that facilitated the Secure Communities program, directly responsible for an estimated 450,000 deportations between 2008 and 2014 alone.
Google also does business with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), supporting ICE and CPB's joint regime of tracking, detention, and deportation of Black and Brown migrants. In an October 2021 report for Business Insider, Caroline Haskins explains:
Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have repeatedly used a common tactic to sidestep public scrutiny and work with US immigration agencies, despite employee backlash and some company policies against doing such work. This tactic, in which the companies use third parties or act as subcontractors to sell their technology, has helped these tech giants quietly secure dozens of cloud contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, Insider has found ... From 2015 to 2021, Amazon used third parties to sell its cloud services at least 16 times to ICE and CBP. Google used third parties to sell various cloud and professional tools at least 28 times to these agencies.
Hewlett Packard and Hewlett Packard Enterprise previously developed and supplied "Status Determination" and "Criminal Alien Tracking" technologies to US Immigration Customs Enforcement ICE. Like the technologies HPE supplied to the Israeli government, the "Status Determination" and "Criminal Alien Tracking" technologies HPE supplied ICE enabled ICE to organize information on who does vs who does not have access to US "citizenship," in order to streamline ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations of people who are not "citizens."
In 2017, HPE split into three entities: HPE, DXC Technologies, and MicroFocus. HPE spun off many of its most criticized contracts, including contracts with ICE, to DXC Technologies, likely in an attempt to distance the HP brand from ICE's actions while still profiting from them. Following the split, HPE stated that it would “maintain a strong relationship with DXC, with agreements in place to support current customers.” In total, HPE along with its parent company HP (from which HPE split in 2016) have derived $128.80 million to date through contracts with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS is the parent agency of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and with US Customs and Border Patrol (CPB), which jointly carry out the US government's regime of tracking, detention, and deportation of Black and Brown migrants.
As of 2016, the Braintree Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Braintree Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Braintree Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Woburn Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Woburn Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Taunton Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Taunton Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Quincy Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Quincy Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Somerville Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Somerville Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Raynham Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Raynham Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As of 2016, the Canton Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Canton Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Canton Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Springfield Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Springfield Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As of 2016, the Chicopee Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Chicopee Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Chicopee Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As of 2016, the Randolph Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Randolph Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Randolph Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As of 2016, the Framingham Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Framingham Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Framingham Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Norwood Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Norwood Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Peabody Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Peabody Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As of 2016, the Revere Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Revere Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Revere Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As of 2016, the Salem Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Salem Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Salem Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As of 2016, the Stoughton Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Stoughton Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Stoughton Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Winthrop Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Winthrop Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) currently holds a 287(g) agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, which is a department of the MA state government. As reported by GBH: "287g agreements allow officers to interview already-detained people in county jails about their immigration status, check the Department of Homeland Security’s databases for information on those individuals, issue detainers to hold individuals set to be released so that ICE can then detain them, and share any information with ICE. They can also recommend and begin the process of deporting individuals."
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) currently holds a 287(g) agreement with the Barnstable County Sheriff's Department. As reported by GBH: "287g agreements allow officers to interview already-detained people in county jails about their immigration status, check the Department of Homeland Security’s databases for information on those individuals, issue detainers to hold individuals set to be released so that ICE can then detain them, and share any information with ICE. They can also recommend and begin the process of deporting individuals."
As of 2016, the Everett Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Everett Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Everett Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Newton Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Newton Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The New Bedford Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information New Bedford Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
As of 2016, the Beverly Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Beverly Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Beverly Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
In 2016, Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations field office in Boston participated in a “counterterrorism seminar” in Israel, as part of an all-expenses-paid delegation of US law enforcement to Israel sponsored by the New England chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The New England Chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sponsors annual all-expenses-paid delegations to Israel for high-ranking New England police, ICE, FBI, and other security officials, where these officials meet with Israeli military, police, and intelligence agencies, with whom they train and exchange tactics including surveillance, racial profiling, crowd control, and the containment of protests.
In 2014-2015, Industrial Video & Control held a $10.15 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to produce a surveillance system for ICE.
From 2016-2021, Gemini Industries held a $2,396,790 contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide ICE with "LEISI [Law Enforcement Information Sharing Initiative] program management and support."
Brockton Police Department Detective Gary Mercurio has been designated as a "Task Force Officer" (TFO). TFOs are local police officers granted the authority to perform the duties of federal law enforcement agencies, including making arrests of individuals sought by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for detention and/or deportation.
Multiple officers in the Massachusetts State Police have been designated as "Task Force Officers" (TFOs). TFOs are local police officers granted the authority to perform the duties of federal law enforcement including making arrests of individuals sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention and/or deportation.
As of 2016, the Belmont Police Department was being integrated into COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. The Belmont Police Department is presumably now integrated into COPLINK and sharing field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, citation reports, and other information in the database. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access any information Belmont Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Medford Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Medford Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
Lexington Police Department officer Helen HSU has been designated as a "Task Force Officer" (TFOs). TFOs are local police officers granted the authority to perform the duties of federal law enforcement including making arrests of individuals sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention and/or deportation.
Dartmouth Police Department officer Scott Brooks has been designated as a "Task Force Officer" (TFO). TFOs are local police officers granted the authority to perform the duties of federal law enforcement including making arrests of individuals sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention and/or deportation.
Franklin Police Department officer Tim Nagle has been designated as a "Task Force Officer" (TFO). TFOs are local police officers granted the authority to perform the duties of federal law enforcement including making arrests of individuals sought by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention and/or deportation.
East Bridgewater Police Department Detective Ryan Cramer has been designated as a "Task Force Officer" (TFOs). TFOs are local police officers granted the authority to perform the duties of federal law enforcement including making arrests of individuals sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention and/or deportation.
The Brookline Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Brookline Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Malden Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Malden Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Attleboro Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Attleboro Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Lowell Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Lowell Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Haverhill Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Haverhill Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Lynn Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Lynn Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Fall River Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Fall River Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Chelsea Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Chelsea Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Cambridge Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Cambridge Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
The Fitchburg Police Department shares field interviews, arrest, complaint, accident, and citation reports, and other information through COPLINK, a surveillance and criminalization platform developed by IBM and the software company i2. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "have direct access to the Massachusetts version of the COPLINK system," enabling ICE to access information Fitchburg Police Department officers enter into COPLINK and utilize this information to facilitate ICE's regime of tracking, detentions, and deportations.
Lenco has received $11.28 million to date through sales of its other armored vehicles and other products to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcmeent (ICE).
One or more members of the MBTA Transit Police have been designated as "Task Force Officers" (TFOs). TFOs are local police officers granted the authority to perform the duties of federal law enforcement agencies, including making arrests of individuals sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention and/or deportation.
As reported by Propublica in 2019, McKinsey & Company worked in an advisory role for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help ICE find "detention savings opportunities" within its regime of tracking, detention, and deportation of Black and Brown migrants. Recommendations McKinsey made to ICE included "proposed cuts in spending on food for migrants, as well as on medical care and supervision of detainees." Propublica further details that "McKinsey’s team also looked for ways to accelerate the deportation process, provoking worries among some ICE staff members that the recommendations risked short-circuiting due process protections for migrants fighting removal from the United States."
Microsoft provides wide-scale support to the US government's regime of tracking, detention, and deportation of Black and Brown migrants, providing a wide array of Microsoft technologies and services to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (ICE and CBP's parent agency). According to US government spending reports, Microsoft has received $509.59 million to date through contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. Microsoft's business with US DHS include the provision of data management technologies to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
And in addition to its direct contracts with DHS, Microsoft frequently does business with DHS, ICE, and CBP through third party vendors, presumably in an attempt to reduce public scrutiny of Microsoft's ties to these agencies. As reported by Business Insider in 2021, "Microsoft used third parties to sell its cloud services and software more than 200 times to immigration agencies from 2002 to 2021, in addition to selling to ICE and CBP directly more than 100 times." A (far from exhaustive) list of recent Microsoft sales to ICE, CBP, and DHS through third party vendors includes:
Northeastern University is the lead University participating in ALERT ("Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats"), a consortium of nine universities and industry partners who receive grants and other support from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct "research, technology and educational development" for DHS. According to an annual report on the program, ALERT supports DHS to "quickly adapt to new research and education priorities related to the daunting mission of DHS to protect our nation from terrorist threats." ALERT includes educational programming targeted to "pre-college, undergraduate, graduate and career professional components" respectively, and includes "High-Tech Tools and Toys Lab," "an Engineering Leadership Program focusing on Department of Homeland Security Topics," and "workshops and short courses."
Northeastern's position as the lead university of ALERT has given rise to numerous contracts and collaborations between NEU and US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including collaborations between NEU and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ICE being a sub-agency within DHS. One of these collaborations is the Border Enforcement Analytics Program (BEAP), a program within the Northeastern University Institute for Security and Public Policy (ISPP), which according to the NEU ISPP website, aims to "provide advanced computing and analytic solutions that enable Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to effectively combine and analyze multiple, large disparate data sets to increase enforcement effectiveness." In another such collaboration between NEU and ICE, Glenn Pierce director of the Northeastern Institute of Security and Public Policy (ISPP) received more than $2.7 million from US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) from 2016-18, as part of a research contract between NEU's Institute of Security and Public Policy and US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). The contract elicited outrage and protests in 2018 from Northeastern students and other community members.
The "cybersecurity firm" Recorded Future has received contracts from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department manages the The Suffolk County Jail, often known as the "Suffolk County House of Corrections." Until 2019, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department maintained an agreement with US Immigration and Customs (ICE), through which ICE used the Suffolk County Jail to cage migrants (predominantly Black and Brown) prior to their deportations. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department ended this agreement with ICE in 2019.
The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department manages the The Suffolk County Jail, often known as the "Suffolk County House of Corrections." Until 2019, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department maintained an agreement with US Immigration and Customs (ICE), through which ICE used the Suffolk County Jail to cage migrants (predominantly Black and Brown) prior to their deportations. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department ended this agreement with ICE in 2019, after which Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tomkins has advocated that the jail's additional capacity be put to use for the caging of area residents who lack access to housing.
Tufts University participates in ALERT ("Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats"), a consortium of nine universities and industry partners who receive grants and other support from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct "research, technology and educational development" for DHS. According to an annual report on the program, ALERT supports DHS to "quickly adapt to new research and education priorities related to the daunting mission of DHS to protect our nation from terrorist threats." ALERT includes educational programming targeted to "pre-college, undergraduate, graduate and career professional components" respectively, and includes "High-Tech Tools and Toys Lab," "an Engineering Leadership Program focusing on Department of Homeland Security Topics," and "workshops and short courses."
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are sub-agencies housed within DHS. ICE and CBP jointly carry out the US government's violent regime of tracking, detention, and deportation of Black and Brown migrants.