Scripps News reports:

The Trump administration has offered open-ended contracts to 13 private companies for help verifying where suspected undocumented immigrants live and work.

A Scripps News investigation found that some of the companies have no record of previously doing business with the government. Some also list post office boxes or residences as their main office addresses, raising questions about their qualifications to handle sensitive personal data and to conduct in-person surveillance of migrants.

Just before Christmas, Immigration and Customs Enforcement awarded contracts potentially worth a combined $1.2 billion for the companies to provide “skip tracing services nationwide” during the next two years, according to federal contracting records reviewed by the Scripps News investigative team. The records show that most of the companies have not yet received any payments.

The Department of Homeland Security published a document in October saying ICE had an immediate need for skip tracing, a process described as using government data, the web, and physical surveillance to confirm the location of targeted immigrants.

The companies would be expected to send ICE a collection of photos and documents confirming the person’s residence and/or place of employment.

The contractors also may be asked to deliver official government documents to persons of interest, the document states. There is the possibility of monetary bonuses. The more undocumented immigrants they find, the more money the businesses can make.

The companies are essentially ICE bounty hunters, said Sharon Bradford Franklin, former chairwoman of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. [Continue reading…]