U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid $825,000 earlier this yr to an organization that manufactures autos geared up with varied applied sciences for legislation enforcement, together with pretend cellphone towers generally known as “cell-site simulators,” which can be utilized to spy on close by telephones.
In accordance with public data, the award dated Could 8 “offers Cell Website Simulator (CSS) Automobiles to help the Homeland Safety Technical Operations program” and is a modification for “extra CSS Automobiles.”
The contract was signed with TechOps Specialty Automobiles (TOSV), a Maryland-based firm. TOSV additionally signed the same contract with ICE in September 2024 for $818,000, exhibiting that the connection between the company and the corporate predates the Trump administration.
TOSV president Jon Brianas advised information.killnetswitch in an electronic mail that he couldn’t present particulars concerning the ICE contracts and the autos, citing “commerce secrets and techniques.” However Brianas did affirm that the corporate does present cell-site simulators, though it doesn’t make them.
“We don’t manufacture electrical, comms, and expertise elements, we combine that product into our total design of the automobile,” mentioned Brianas, who declined to say from the place TOSV sources its cell-site simulators.
That is the newest federal contract that reveals a few of the applied sciences powering the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown.
In early September, Forbes discovered a just lately unsealed search warrant that confirmed that ICE used a cell-site simulator to trace down an individual who allegedly was a part of a legal gang in america, and who had been ordered to depart the nation in 2023. Within the article, Forbes reported that it additionally discovered a contract for “cell website simulator autos,” however the article didn’t identify the corporate that gives the vans to the company.
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Cell-site simulators additionally go by the identify “stingrays” as a result of a few of the earlier kinds of these gadgets, made by protection contractor Harris (now L3Harris), have been named that manner. Since then, stingrays have change into a catch-all identify for such a expertise, often known as IMSI catchers. (IMSI stands for Worldwide Cell Subscriber Identification, a novel quantity that identifies each cellphone consumer on this planet.)
Because the identify suggests, cell-site simulators instruments can mimic a cellphone tower, tricking each telephone in its close by vary to hook up with the gadget and thus giving legislation enforcement the power to higher establish the real-world location of these telephones and their house owners.
Some cell-site simulators also can intercept common calls, textual content messages, and web site visitors.
Authorities can get information from conventional cellphone towers to seek out the present or previous location of a suspect, however the location is often not very exact.
Stingray-like gadgets have been in use by legislation enforcement for greater than a decade and have lengthy been controversial as a result of authorities don’t all the time get a warrant for his or her use, and critics say these gadgets ensnare harmless individuals by default. These gadgets are additionally shrouded in secrecy, as a result of the legislation enforcement businesses who use them are underneath strict non-disclosure agreements to not reveal how the gadgets work.
ICE has an extended historical past of utilizing cell-site simulators. In 2020, paperwork obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union confirmed that ICE deployed them a minimum of 466 instances between 2017 and 2019. The company used these instruments greater than 1,885 instances between 2013 and 2017, in keeping with paperwork obtained by BuzzFeed Information on the time.
ICE acknowledged information.killnetswitch’s request for remark, however didn’t reply to a sequence of questions, which included: what ICE makes use of these autos for, whether or not and the place they’ve just lately been deployed, and whether or not the company all the time will get a warrant when utilizing cell-site simulators.
From surveillance vans to bookmobiles
Headquartered simply outdoors of Washington D.C., TOSV sells a variety of customizable autos to legislation enforcement, equivalent to vans for SWAT armed response groups, bomb squads, and so-called “cell lab” and “cowl surveillance” autos.
Amongst these autos for police forces, TOSV lists a number of “initiatives,” together with one described as DHS Cell Forensic Labs, referring to the Division of Homeland Safety.
In accordance with the web site, these cell forensic vans are “geared up for on-site forensic evaluation and documentation,” have “safe compartments for proof preservation and investigative instruments,” and allow “seamless case file updates and proof logging.”
One other venture is the DHS Cell Command Van,” which TOSV says it’s “configurable for superior surveillance and mission coordination.”
It’s unclear if these vans are the identical autos that embody cell-site simulators, as there’s no point out of the telephone surveillance instrument wherever on TOSV’s web site.
ICE has different contracts with TOSV for cell forensic labs, which don’t specify what applied sciences are positioned within the vans.
In accordance with its web site, TOSV additionally sells so-called “bookmobiles,” which seem like libraries on wheels, in addition to medical, and fireplace division autos.
