Thread by @ConMijente

NEW: LexisNexis, the huge legal research firm, signed a $16.8 million contract w/ICE, giving access to billions of personal records, like credit histories, license plates, phone data, & more.

ICE then uses this data to target & deport us.

#NoTechforICE
theintercept.com/2021/04/02/ice…

This is a new frontier: These data brokers are increasingly working w/police & agencies like ICE & CBP, selling vast troves of personal info.

This lets ICE agents pinpoint people they want to deport, knowing their addresses, phone & internet subscriptions, DMV records, etc.

We've seen how this supercharges ICE's deportations: Two agents sitting in a car entering data can terrorize an entire community. Their information is entered into a computer, their records are pulled out, & then people start disappearing

https://twitter.com/ConMijente/status/1179391687065513985

LexisNexis is now participating in this. It says it has 283 million "individual dossiers," meaning ICE will have data on huge swaths of the country at its fingertips.

And you can't exactly go around w/out a phone, w/out internet. You can't hide these digital breadcrumbs.

These big data contracts were often first signed under Obama: Thomson Reuters, Palantir, & other big tech firms first started working w/ICE when Obama shifted its priorities towards "criminal" prosecution.

ICE needed a way to pinpoint these new targets & turned to Silicon Valley

And now this contract, which seems to be replacing a contract Thomson Reuters had w/ICE, which provided the exact same kinds of records.

But this new contract was just signed in February, under Biden.
washingtonpost.com/technology/202…

We can't overstate the harm this has. Even if you're in a sanctuary city, even if you're in a sanctuary state, ICE now has access to data flows that let them come to your house. The fear this will have on immigrant communities is immense.

And we can't let Biden repeat the arguments of the Obama admin, that they're focusing on "national security" threats or some other criminal categories.

This is how these contracts become permanent tools of the enforcement system.

These contracts MUST be cut.

#NoTechforICE