The China Mail - Level playing field? Tech at forefront of US immigration fight

It is a David versus Goliath fight, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spending millions on surveillance tech, while activists and businesses scramble to build tools to protect migrants and others who might encounter federal officers.

One migrant safety tool that has surged in popularity since the flood of immigration enforcement agents to Minnesota is TurnSignl.

It allows users to connect almost instantly to an immigration lawyer when confronted by ICE, as well as to automatically record and upload the encounter to cloud storage.

The app, which has 285,000 users, is the brainchild of attorney and computer scientist Jazz Hampton and his team who created it after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

It was originally intended for use by motorists fearful of encounters with US police, allowing them to record interactions at the roadside and elsewhere.

But Hampton said that from January 2025 he evolved the app to meet the needs of those concerned about being stopped by immigration officials. There have been more sign-ups in the past month than in the three months preceding it.

"It's been a busy 45 days for all of us around here," said the Minnesota-based entrepreneur, reflecting on soaring demand for $99 annual subscriptions.

"We expanded (the) service this year, and now we're offering live connection to immigration attorneys, 24/7."

Several major corporations offer subscriptions as an employee benefit and accounts can be shared with up to five others.

"We don't just provide lawyers, we provide peace of mind... allowing your teenage child to go to the grocery store and have confidence that someone will be there with them if you can't be," Hampton, 35, told AFP.

Recordings of encounters with ICE officers, as well as the advice supplied by the connected attorney, can be used in subsequent court proceedings.

"It makes them feel as if the playing field is level," Hampton said, citing a review by a user who said they were "nervous" when being stopped but the service "made me feel safe, and (helped) not make me look mad or dumb."

- Surveillance tech -

As President Donald Trump's administration ramps up its efforts to arrest and deport millions of undocumented migrants, authorities have increasingly turned to technology to target individuals for arrest and deportation.

Records seen by AFP show there has been a spending spree on monitoring and surveillance software.

In September 2025, ICE spent $3.75 million on software and related services from facial recognition company Clearview AI.

ICE officers deployed to Minnesota have been using that tool, and another called Mobile Fortify, to track not only migrants but US citizens protesting the crackdown, The New York Times reported citing officials.

In the nine months following the start of Trump's second presidency, officials bought products from Magnet Forensics and Cellebrite, both of which make software to extract data from mobile devices, and Penlink, which provides access to location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones.

That was in addition to a $30 million contract with Palantir to build "Immigration OS," billed as an all-in-one platform to target unauthorized migrants and identify which are in the process of voluntary return to their country of origin.

Undeterred, activists in Minneapolis have sought to turn the tables by creating "Defrost MN," a searchable database of ICE vehicles active in the city.

It features license plate information, images and other data, and even a voice search function to allow drivers tracking ICE to call in plates for checking.

Loosely organized groups of anti-ICE activists have been using encrypted messaging app Signal to flag immigration sweeps and organize spontaneous demonstrations against them.

Use of the app to track activities of federal officers deployed to Minneapolis surged following the killings in January of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by agents.

The phenomenon has drawn the Trump administration's ire, with the FBI warning it was reviewing use of the service to monitor officers.

FBI Director Kash Patel said "you cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm's way."

T.Luo--ThChM