Cybersecurity Policy Report, Democratic Lawmakers Express ‘Deep Concern’ About ICE Spyware Contract, (Oct 6, 2025)
Expressing “deep concern” about reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had contracted with a spyware provider, three Democratic members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for details about ICE’s use of spyware.
They cited reporting in The Guardian that ICE had reactivated a contract with Paragon Solutions for access to Paragon’s Graphite spyware software. The Department of Homeland Security had contracted with Paragon during the Biden administration, but the arrangement was paused over concerns that it violated President Biden’s executive order restricting federal agencies’ use of spyware, the newspaper reported.
“Graphite can gain unauthorized access into mobile phones without the owner’s knowledge or consent, allowing access to encrypted applications, the phone’s location data, as well as messages and photographs saved to the phone,” the lawmakers noted in a letter to Secretary Noem.
“Given the Trump Administration’s disregard for constitutional rights and civil liberties in pursuit of rapid mass deportation, we are seriously concerned that ICE will abuse Graphite software to target immigrants, people of color, and individuals who express opposition to ICE’s repeated attacks on the rule of law,” they said.
“While Paragon claims it has more safeguards in place to protect civil liberties and privacy than its competitor Pegasus, which has been used to spy on French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, as well as other prominent activists and academics, the Graphite product still gives the purchaser ‘access to the instant messaging applications’ on a target’s phone, including through the use of a ‘zero-click’ exploit where something as simple as receiving a message on a platform like WhatsApp allows their phone to become infected,” they said.
“Allowing ICE access to spyware that can be used to easily track and monitor the public—including those vocally opposed to governmental overreach—threatens Americans’ freedom of movement and freedom of speech,” the lawmakers warned.
They asked Ms. Noem to provide, by Oct. 20, “communications and documents discussing ICE’s use of spyware” and “communications and documents regarding the legality of and legal justification for using spyware or mass electronic surveillance for immigration enforcement,” among other things.
The letter was signed by Reps. Summer Lee (D., Pa.), ranking member of the Oversight Committee’s federal law enforcement subcommittee; Shontel Brown (D., Ohio), ranking member of the cybersecurity, information technology, and government innovation subcommittee; and committee member Yassamin Ansari (D., Ariz.).
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