Gestapo USA

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) signed a contract last year with Israeli spyware maker Paragon worth $2 million.

Shortly after, the Biden administration put the contract under review, issuing a “stop work order,” to determine whether the contract complied with an executive order on commercial spyware, which restricts U.S. government agencies from using spyware that could violate human rights or target Americans abroad.

Almost a year later, when it looked like the contract would just run out and never become active, ICE lifted the stop work order, according to public records.

Right-wing media has spent years fear mongering about "migrant crime," pretending that its priority is deporting "the worst first." But now that Trump is deporting immigrants with no criminal history, including children and students, they're sounding a very different tune.

That shouldn't be a surprise -- white nationalists have always hid theiragenda behind a "migrant crime" smokescreen. And now that Trump's won reelection, the mask is coming off.

Emma Mae Weber explains how the smokescreen works, and why falling for it puts us all in danger.

US immigration agents will have access to one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking tools after a decision by the Trump administration to move ahead with a contract with Paragon Solutions, a company founded in Israel which makes spyware that can be used to hack into any mobile phone – including encrypted applications.

The Department of Homeland Security first entered into a contract with Paragon, now owned by a US firm, in late 2024, under the Biden administration. But the $2m contract was put on hold pending a compliance review to make sure it adhered to an executive order that restricts the US government’s use of spyware, Wired reported at the time.

That pause has now been lifted, according to public procurement documents, which list US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) as the contracting agency.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/35588965

Clearview AI built a massive facial recognition database by scraping 30 billion photos from Facebook and other social media platforms without users' permission, which law enforcement has accessed nearly a million times since 2017[^1].

The company markets its technology to law enforcement as a tool "to bring justice to victims," with clients including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. However, privacy advocates argue it creates a "perpetual police line-up" that includes innocent people who could face wrongful arrests from misidentification[^1].

Major social media companies like Facebook sent cease-and-desist letters to Clearview AI in 2020 for violating user privacy. Meta claims it has since invested in technology to combat unauthorized scraping[^1].

While Clearview AI recently won an appeal against a £7.5m fine from the UK's privacy watchdog, this was solely because the company only provides services to law enforcement outside the UK/EU. The ruling did not grant broad permission for data scraping activities[^5].

The risks extend beyond law enforcement use - once photos are scraped, individuals lose control over their biometric data permanently. Critics warn this could enable:

• Retroactive prosecution if laws change
• Creation of unauthorized AI training datasets
• Identity theft and digital abuse
• Commercial facial recognition systems without consent[^1]

Sources:

[^1]: Business Insider - Clearview AI scraped 30 billion images from Facebook and other social media sites

[^5]: BBC - Face search company Clearview AI overturns UK privacy fine

You’ve probably seen the aggressive tactics employed by Immigrations Customs and Enforcement agents at the dawn of the second Trump administration. While many people find these videos disturbing, others question why it should matter to them at all if they’re not in the country illegally. Today, WIRED breaks down how ICE’s unprecedented expansion will actually affect every person in the US—citizen or otherwise.

"She had green card and passed exam for citizenship and was waiting for the ceremony," Aghdassi told NBC Los Angeles. "She is not a bank robber or thief or criminal."

On August 28 and 29, California Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled two sweeping initiatives that together mark a sharp rightward turn in state policy and expose the Democratic Party’s deepening complicity in the destruction of democratic rights. As he portrays himself as a bulwark against President Trump, Newsom is in fact laying the foundation for a massive expansion of state power against the working class and the poor.

Under the guise of public safety and compassion, the Democratic governor has placed the California Highway Patrol (CHP) at the center of two major new enforcement regimes: a statewide “crime suppression” expansion and a “homeless encampment clearance” task force.

These measures are being marketed as alternatives to Trump’s deployments of federal forces into major U.S. cities, but in substance, they mirror their basic functions. Far from opposing the authoritarian measures emanating from Washington, Newsom’s actions mimic them, signaling a growing alignment between the Democratic Party and the Trump administration on the fundamental issue: the use of state repression to deal with the social crisis created by capitalism.#

Internally, officials have called the removals repatriations and not deportations, sources told CNN, implying the children impacted are not being involuntarily removed. Advocates and former officials, however, expressed skepticism about children’s understanding of their removal, particularly because many don’t have attorneys.

ICE agents conducted multiple raids across Southern California, taking at least 28 people from car washes, Home Depots, a warehouse, and near a courthouse, while rapid responders in North Hollywood helped many escape by blowing whistles to alert the community. In other news, a Reseda teen was secretly transferred to Arizona, reports surfaced of brutal beatings inside Alligator Alcatraz detention, and the NYT profiled Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, who may expand his aggressive Los Angeles raid tactics nationwide.

In phone calls recorded by the outlet, immigrants at the facility—dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by President Donald Trump and his fascist supporters—said that at least four detainees were injured after guards deployed tear gas and began beating them.

“People started shouting because a relative had died, and they started shouting for freedom. At that moment, a prison team came in and started beating everyone,” said one of the detainees in one of the three phone calls.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is siphoning ever more resources and personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, threatening national preparedness for climate disasters.

https://www.univision.com/local/miami-wltv/migrantes-detenidos-denuncian-supuesto-motin-alcatraz-de-los-caimanes

The conditions include one meal a day that consists of a single burrito, some 40 to 90 people at a time crammed into a single room with no beds, and some detainees held as long as seven days with no ability to bathe, according to accounts shared with MSNBC by attorneys and a family member of a person being detained.

“They just give us one burrito with water,” said the immigrant, who already had an active immigration case when he was picked up. His father spent at least six days at the Chantilly ICE office and also was given one burrito per day, and the crowding was so severe that his father had to sleep sitting up at times, the son told MSNBC.

The announcement follows Newsom’s 2024 executive order, which directed encampment cleanups after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling granted state and local governments more authority to remove them.

Guards reportedly used tear gas and indiscriminate beatings to regain control of the facility when an unknown number of suffering captives began to revolt, presumably to attempt to escape. Detainees who contacted the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Spanish-language news outlet said that they could hear fire alarms as well as the sound of helicopters circling the facility.

As he publicly mocks concerns that crime in California is out of control, Gov. Gavin Newsom is also surging law enforcement resources across the state.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) no longer requires temporary immigration judges to have experience in immigration law.

The new rule, which went into effect on Thursday, permits the director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), with the U.S. Attorney General’s approval, “to designate or select any attorney to serve” as a temporary immigration judge (TIJ) for a renewable six-month term. The notice states that the DOJ “declines to adopt any limitations on the number of extensions of the six-month periods or otherwise cap the length of a temporary appointment.” The EOIR conducts immigration court proceedings, appellate reviews, and administrative hearings.

Tear gas was used at a time when parents were taking their kids to school and innocent bystanders were on their way to work. “A lot of people were coughing ... A lot of people had red eyes, and [were] trying to get water to clean themselves," said one witness.

Trump administration pushing controversial deal to send people to non-home countries including South Sudan and Eswatini

Just east of the Fashion District in downtown L.A., in a riot of color and shape and texture, the Piñata District on Olympic Boulevard sells everything you could need for a vibrant party.

But now, amid ongoing ICE sweeps, the goods are still there, but the customers are not.

On a recent visit, most people in the area were employees unloading merchandise. Talking to vendors was difficult — they were either too scared to speak or too short-staffed to stop and chat.

Nini Santoyo, owner of El Cora Productos, imports merchandise from small towns all over Mexico. She says businesses in the Piñata District have seen a large drop in sales. “You see how lonely it is? There's no cars; there's no people walking," Santoyo said. "It is dead.”

"Everybody's really scared of coming,” she said.