ICE purchased automobiles geared up with faux cell towers to spy on telephones 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid $825,000 earlier this 12 months to an organization that manufactures automobiles geared up with varied applied sciences for legislation enforcement, together with faux cellphone towers often called “cell-site simulators,” which can be utilized to spy on close by telephones.  

In response to public records, the award dated Could 8 “gives Cell Website Simulator (CSS) Automobiles to help the Homeland Safety Technical Operations program” and is a modification for “extra CSS Automobiles.”  

The contract was signed with TechOps Specialty Automobiles (TOSV), a Maryland-based firm. TOSV additionally signed an identical contract with ICE in September 2024 for $818,000, exhibiting that the connection between the company and the corporate predates the Trump administration.  

TOSV president Jon Brianas instructed TechCrunch in an e mail that he couldn’t present particulars concerning the ICE contracts and the automobiles, citing “commerce secrets and techniques.” However Brianas did verify that the corporate does present cell-site simulators, though it doesn’t make them. 

“We don’t manufacture electrical, comms, and expertise elements, we combine that product into our general design of the automobile,” mentioned Brianas, who declined to say from the place TOSV sources its cell-site simulators.  

That is the most recent federal contract that reveals among the applied sciences powering the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown. 

In early September, Forbes found a recently unsealed search warrant that confirmed that ICE used a cell-site simulator to trace down an individual who allegedly was a part of a legal gang in the USA, and who had been ordered to depart the nation in 2023. Within the article, Forbes reported that it additionally discovered a contract for “cell web site simulator automobiles,” however the article didn’t title the corporate that gives the vans to the company. 

Cell-site simulators additionally go by the title “stingrays” as a result of among the earlier kinds of these gadgets, made by protection contractor Harris (now L3Harris), have been named that manner. Since then, stingrays have develop into a catch-all title for any such expertise, also referred to as IMSI catchers. (IMSI stands for Worldwide Cellular Subscriber Id, a singular quantity that identifies each cellphone person on the earth.) 

Because the title suggests, cell-site simulator instruments can mimic a cellphone tower, tricking each cellphone in its close by vary to hook up with the gadget and thus giving legislation enforcement the flexibility to higher establish the real-world location of these telephones and their house owners.  

Some cell-site simulators also can intercept common calls, textual content messages, and web visitors. 

Authorities can get information from conventional cellphone towers to seek out the present or previous location of a suspect, however the location is normally not very exact.  

Stingray-like gadgets have been in use by legislation enforcement for greater than a decade and have lengthy been controversial as a result of authorities don’t all the time get a warrant for his or her use, and critics say these gadgets ensnare harmless individuals by default. These gadgets are additionally shrouded in secrecy, as a result of the legislation enforcement companies that use them are beneath strict non-disclosure agreements to not reveal how the gadgets work. 

ICE has a protracted historical past of utilizing cell-site simulators. In 2020, paperwork obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union confirmed that ICE deployed them a minimum of 466 instances between 2017 and 2019. The company used these instruments greater than 1,885 instances between 2013 and 2017, according to documents obtained by BuzzFeed News on the time. 

ICE acknowledged TechCrunch’s request for remark, however didn’t reply to a collection of questions, which included: what ICE makes use of these automobiles for, whether or not and the place they’ve lately been deployed, and whether or not the company all the time will get a warrant when utilizing cell-site simulators.  

From surveillance vans to bookmobiles 

Headquartered simply exterior of Washington, DC, TOSV sells a variety of customizable automobiles to law enforcement, reminiscent of vans for SWAT armed response groups, bomb squads, and so-called “cell lab” and “cowl surveillance” automobiles.  

Amongst these automobiles for police forces, TOSV lists a number of “tasks,” together with one described as DHS Mobile Forensic Labs, referring to the Division of Homeland Safety. 

In response to the web site, these cell forensic vans are “geared up for on-site forensic evaluation and documentation,” have “safe compartments for proof preservation and investigative instruments,” and allow “seamless case file updates and proof logging.” 

One other mission is the DHS Mobile Command Van,” which TOSV says is “configurable for superior surveillance and mission coordination.”  

It’s unclear if these vans are the identical automobiles that embody cell-site simulators, as there’s no point out of the cellphone surveillance device anyplace on TOSV’s web site.  

ICE has different contracts with TOSV for cell forensic labs, which don’t specify which applied sciences are positioned within the vans. 

In response to its web site, TOSV additionally sells so-called “bookmobiles,” which look like libraries on wheels, in addition to medical and fire department automobiles.