DHS Flags Laura Berlin's ICE Contractor Map as Threat After 10 Million Visits
Updated
Updated · USA TODAY · Aug 31
DHS Flags Laura Berlin's ICE Contractor Map as Threat After 10 Million Visits
1 articles · Updated · USA TODAY · Aug 31
Summary
A secret February DHS intelligence bulletin labeled Laura Berlin’s “Who is Profiting from ICE?” website a potential domestic-terrorism threat, saying anti-ICE actors could use its contractor data to escalate protests into vandalism or violence.
Berlin built the searchable map after seeing deportation flights and detention operations, using public records to trace companies profiting from ICE; DHS’s own bulletin acknowledged some of the activity it described was protected by the First Amendment.
Nearly 10 million visits hit the site after two January fatal shootings involving immigration agents, helping activists organize hundreds of protests that pressured Citizens Bank to cut ties with detention contractors GEO Group and CoreCivic.
More than $350 million in public deposits were withdrawn or slated for withdrawal from Citizens, while Berlin’s database also tracks ICE-linked contracts involving firms such as AT&T, FedEx and Palantir.
Berlin says she will keep expanding the project, including research on data companies and political donations; her records show more than 450 candidates received money from major ICE contractors.