Friends, colleagues, strangers who signed up for my mailing list and must now suffer the consequences: I’m dusting off this list (and moving it to a new platform) to share a story I have in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine. It’s about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s systematic hunt for targets in a quiet coastal community in southern Washington State, about who they got—a mom selling a $20 homemade piñata on Facebook, a grandpa, a school social worker, many dozens of others—and about how they got them. I spent more than a year filing public-records requests and trying to reverse-engineer ICE’s investigations, and the short answer to “how” is this: The agency taps into massive pools of data about American residents’ lives, including in supposed sanctuary states like Washington. Car insured and registered in your own name? You’re low-hanging fruit. Pay utility bills? You’re low-hanging fruit. Use social media? You’re low-hanging fruit. The more “American” a person’s life, the more they engage with society, the more they follow the rules, the easier they are to find.
How ICE finds its targets
How ICE finds its targets
How ICE finds its targets
Friends, colleagues, strangers who signed up for my mailing list and must now suffer the consequences: I’m dusting off this list (and moving it to a new platform) to share a story I have in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine. It’s about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s systematic hunt for targets in a quiet coastal community in southern Washington State, about who they got—a mom selling a $20 homemade piñata on Facebook, a grandpa, a school social worker, many dozens of others—and about how they got them. I spent more than a year filing public-records requests and trying to reverse-engineer ICE’s investigations, and the short answer to “how” is this: The agency taps into massive pools of data about American residents’ lives, including in supposed sanctuary states like Washington. Car insured and registered in your own name? You’re low-hanging fruit. Pay utility bills? You’re low-hanging fruit. Use social media? You’re low-hanging fruit. The more “American” a person’s life, the more they engage with society, the more they follow the rules, the easier they are to find.