The Department of Homeland Security intends to pay Thomson Reuters $125 million to access personal records for immigration enforcement. Procurement documents reviewed by 404 Media show the plan covers names, addresses, Social Security numbers, ethnicity, social media posts, and geolocation data. The goal is to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigate what it calls “voter fraud” and immigration fraud. The agreement allows ICE to continuously monitor millions of people.
The timing
This deal follows a press conference given by President Trump on Thursday regarding election security. The event promoted conspiracy theories and risked undermining the legitimacy of the upcoming midterms. It also comes after ICE agents fatally shot two people in the week prior.
The procurement document states: “Due to ICE’s re-prioritized mission, there is need for this data to be readily accessible to support the presidential mandate of the identification of Voters Fraud, Immigration Fraud and National Security.” It adds that the data “specifically validates and verifies school, benefit, immigration and other eligibility requirements.”
What is CLEAR?
Thomson Reuters is best known for its news agency, but it also operates as a massive data broker. Its product, called CLEAR, claims to “Accelerate investigations confidently through a vast collection of public and proprietary records.” The company feeds this database with credit header data, property records, social media posts, license plate data, and geolocation information.
The contract is with Thomson Reuters Special Services (TRSS), a subsidiary handling government contracts. TRSS offers embedded data scientists to clients cleared for Top Secret/SCI level access. The plan involves paying the company $25 million annually over five years.
Why the extra cost?
Parts of DHS have previously used CLEAR data. 404 Media has also reported that ICE integrates this data with Palantir tools used to identify neighbourhoods for raids. Despite this, the new document argues ICE must pay more for direct access.
The text says: “The importance of TRSS owning the proprietary data makes it essential for quality control to ICE.” It notes that accessing the same volume of data through other vendors would incur transaction fees. The document claims TRSS is the only company able to offer data in “batch” and provide “continuous monitoring and alert service for millions of individuals and entities of interest.”
Thomson Reuters response
When approached by 404 Media, the company issued a statement. It said: “We prohibit the use of CLEAR for the purpose of identifying and locating noncriminal immigrants or undocumented individuals with the intention of deportation solely on the basis of the individual’s immigration status.” It added that “Immigration status is not a search field in CLEAR.”
Previously, Thomson Reuters told the outlet: “It’s inaccurate to connect CLEAR to ICE and its deportation and enforcement operations.” The company also noted it works with customers on national security issues, such as child exploitation, human trafficking, and financial crime.
Thomson Reuters previously fired a long-serving employee after they spoke out against selling data products to ICE. 404 Media has also reported that ICE invited staff to demonstrations of a license plate reader app from Motorola, which can be enhanced by CLEAR data.
