11/6: Legal groups sue Trump administration over use of Israeli spyware on immigrant communities

Civil rights attorneys are seeking documents disclosing details on the extent of ICE’s use of invasive Israeli spyware to track, monitor, and target immigrants and activists

Alexandra Martinez – Prism

November 6th, 2025

Legal groups sue Trump administration over use of Israeli spyware on immigrant communities

Civil rights attorneys are suing the Trump administration to force the release of records detailing whether federal immigration agencies are using sophisticated Israeli spyware to track, monitor, and target immigrants and activists across the country.

The lawsuit, filed on Oct. 30 in federal court by Just Futures Law and the Center for Constitutional Rights, demands that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) comply with Freedom of Information Act requests related to their contracts with tech companies Cellebrite and Paragon Solutions. Both companies have been linked to government surveillance of journalists, human rights defenders, and protesters around the world.

Attorneys say immigrant rights are at urgent risk as the administration escalates arrests, detentions, and protest-related charges under President Donald Trump’s second term.

“The public has the right to know whether and to what extent the U.S. government deploys powerful spyware to infect people’s phones, extract data, and surveil people’s daily communications,” Julie Mao, an attorney at Just Futures Law, said in a press release.

“Like other law enforcement agencies, ICE employs various forms of technology to investigate violations of the law, while appropriately respecting civil liberties and privacy interests,” an ICE spokesperson said in response to a request for comment.

CBP did not respond to Prism’s request for comment.

ICE has worked with Israeli spyware company Cellebrite for more than a decade. The agency currently holds two active contracts totaling $11 million with the company, which markets phone-cracking tools that allow law enforcement to extract data from locked devices, according to the attorneys’ press release. CBP, which also holds at least 20 Cellebrite software licenses, has partnered with the firm since 2008, the press release states.

Spyware from the Israel-based Paragon Solutions, known as Graphite, is considered even more invasive. According to technical researchers, the tool can hack into smartphones, including encrypted messaging apps, without the user’s knowledge. ICE entered into a contract with Paragon in September 2024, but the Biden administration paused the agreement due to national security concerns after issuing an executive order limiting the use of spyware by federal agencies. Trump reversed that decision in August, clearing ICE to resume the contract.

Members of Congress sent a letter last month demanding answers from ICE about its use of Graphite, calling the secrecy surrounding the program “deeply alarming.”

Immigrant communities fear these tools could supercharge longstanding surveillance and criminalization. Advocates say the technologies fit into a broader landscape in which immigrants and their supporters have been increasingly treated as threats to public order. Organizers from Dallas to Los Angeles report that social media posts about protests have drawn ICE attention. Family members have had their devices searched during home raids. Community defense networks believe the government is monitoring WhatsApp chats used to coordinate court support and legal aid.

The level of intrusion remains unclear, which is precisely what the lawsuit seeks to change.

“We should not have to go to federal court to force the government to hand over these records,” Ian Head, manager of the Open Records Project at the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in the press release. “This administration wants to hide its abusive, Orwellian behavior, but we are fighting back.”

Earlier this year, the Canadian digital watchdog group Citizen Lab published a report tracing Paragon spyware deployments targeting political activists and journalists in Italy, Australia, Canada, and Denmark. Rights advocates fear the same tactics are now being adopted within U.S. borders and directed at already-vulnerable groups.

Surveillance researchers say the expansion reflects a deepening trend: Domestic policing agencies are increasingly using military-grade technology developed for foreign intelligence operations.

“In the wake of 9/11, federal agencies provided considerable funding to state and local law enforcement agencies to collect, analyze, share, and deploy a wide range of new data,” researcher Sarah Brayne told the research organization Data & Society. “Increasingly, local law enforcement agencies recognized these data could be useful for their own quotidian surveillance.”

Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Carolyn Copeland, Top Editor
Rashmee Kumar, Copy Editor

ICE Out Now!

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