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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reportedly exploring a plan to contract “private bounty hunters” and to offer financial incentives for locating and verifying the whereabouts of migrants, according to a procurement document obtained by The Intercept. The document indicates the government is considering awarding contracts to multiple vendors to handle the volume of cases. “Monetary bonuses or fee adjustments based on the vendor’s success rate in verifying alien addresses and delivering documents,” the document reads. Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment via email. Why It Matters President Donald Trump directed his administration to remove millions of migrants without legal status as part of his government’s mass deportation policy. The administration has pulled together resources from several federal agencies in a bid to ramp up immigration arrests. What To Know The documents seek information from prospective vendors for “skip tracing and process serving services” using government-supplied case data, and propose assigning contractors bundles of individuals to locate. Skip tracing refers to the process of collecting, analyzing, and confirming information to find individuals whose whereabouts are unknown, either because they have intentionally gone into hiding or have unintentionally lost contact. “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Enforcement and Removals (ERO) has an immediate need for Skip Tracing and Process Serving Services using Government furnished case data with identifiable information, commercial data verification and physical observation services, as described further below, to verify alien address information, investigate alternative alien address information, confirm the new location of fugitive aliens to ERO, and deliver materials/documents to undocumented aliens as appropriate,” the document reads. The plan obtained by The Intercept outlines potential financial incentives for contractors based on their effectiveness in verifying individuals’ addresses and delivering documents. For example, higher payments could be offered when a contractor successfully confirms a person’s residence or workplace on the first attempt. Additional incentives might be provided for submitting verification reports promptly, such as within 48 hours, or for achieving a high rate of successful document deliveries, including obtaining signatures or reporting any refusals. The procurement document recommends using multiple verification sources to ensure a high level of accuracy and encourages vendors to make full use of available technology systems. It also indicates that the government is considering awarding contracts to several vendors to handle the large number of cases. The document reportedly describes giving contractors dockets of 10,000 people at a time, with additional assignments in “increments of 10,000 up to 1,000,000.” Earlier this year, a group of military contractors, including former Blackwater CEO and Trump ally Erik Prince, reportedly circulated a plan advocating for private initiatives to track immigrants. According to pitch materials obtained by Politico, the proposal included a “bounty program” offering cash rewards to state or local law enforcement officers for each undocumented individual detained. Republicans across the nation have made several proposals to deploy bounty hunters to carry out immigration enforcement operations. Lawmakers in Mississippi and Missouri have proposed expanding powers for bounty hunters to carry out immigration enforcement and rewarding them. January 6 rioter Jake Lang, who is running for U.S. Senate in Florida, previously told Newsweek that he would support deputizing the Proud Boys and other participants in the Capitol attack to conduct enforcement operations. What People Are Saying The document reads: “The vendor shall ensure that the provision of these services is done in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local law, with high standards of conduct, and with the use of qualified individuals with suitable training, education, experience, and skills to perform the services.”
