DHS IS WATCHING

Federal law enforcement divisions have been purchasing commercial databases with cellphone location data to support immigration and border enforcement efforts, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used the data to detect undocumented workers and other migrants entering the country illegally, according to the Journal.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – both divisions of Homeland Security – have reportedly utilized the data in a variety of ways.

Documents cited by the Journal show that the purchase of user location data started in 2017, when an experimental products division of DHS began to buy location data from Venntel Inc., a small Virginia-based tech company that reportedly shares several executives and patents with Gravy Analytics, a major mobile-advertising company.

The following year, ICE bought $190,000 worth of Venntel licenses. In 2019, CBP bought more than $1 million in licenses for multiple kinds of software. That purchase included Venntel subscriptions for location data.