DHS Weighs Private Bounty Hunters To Locate Illegal Immigrants

Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times,

The Trump administration is exploring a program to hire bounty hunters who would track down illegal immigrants and receive bonuses for successful captures, according to a government contracting site.

​The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a request for information on Oct. 31 through the federal government’s central online portal for federal contracting opportunities to gauge interest from private bounty-hunting services.

​“DHS ICE has an immediate need for Skip Tracing and Process Serving Services using government furnished case data with identifiable information, commercial data verification, and physical observation services, to verify alien address information, investigate alternative alien address information, confirm the new location of aliens, and deliver materials/documents to aliens as appropriate,” the request stated.

​While the information gathering process isn’t the same as the government seeking a contract for services, it could lead to an opportunity in the foreseeable future.

​The idea is for ICE to provide skip-tracing companies—businesses specializing in locating individuals—with information on 10,000 immigrants at a time to locate over an initial 12-month period.

Extra assignments would be given in increments of 10,000, up to 1,000,000, over additional periods of time.

​Under the plan, skip-trace vendors would be paid to find illegal immigrants and serve them with documents.

​Such companies would verify address information for non-citizens provided by the government, research additional possible addresses for these individuals, confirm their current residence locations, and deliver required documents to them as needed.

​Bounty hunters would provide ICE with documented home and work addresses, phone numbers, vehicle information, and social media information.

​The proposed pay structure includes “monetary bonuses” based on three criteria: performance, volume, and quality of information provided by companies.

​Performance bonuses were proposed for vendors who verify an illegal immigrant’s residence or employment location on the first attempt.

Other factors include timely verification reports, the vendor’s success in document delivery, and obtaining signatures.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, a DHS spokesperson didn’t comment directly on using bounty hunters to help ICE.

“President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem are supporting our state and local law enforcement officers who are risking their lives to help locate the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists,” the spokesman said.

“We are providing our law enforcement agencies with the tools, training, and resources they need to enforce immigration laws while performing routine police duties.”

​This information request follows a September $1.9 million contract with Carahsoft Technology Corp. for AI-powered social media surveillance.

The Carahsoft contract detailed on UASpending.gov has a potential value of $5.7 million. The contract was for “Zignal Licenses for ICE Homeland Security Investigations” to provide real-time data analysis for criminal investigations.

The same system is currently used by the United States and Israeli militaries.

Earlier this year, states attempted similar bounty hunter programs.

​A Missouri bounty-hunter bill introduced in January targeted violent illegal immigrants but failed to move out of committee and died in the state legislature. The bill called for life without parole for dangerous illegal immigrants convicted of felony trespassing charges in Missouri.

​It would have allowed Missourians to earn $1,000 for reporting illegal immigrants who were arrested.

Lawmakers in Mississippi attempted to duplicate the Missouri bounty hunter bill, but it also failed to move out of committee.

In Arizona, state Republicans proposed a bill that would have incentivized police departments to target people believed to be in the country illegally by awarding them a $2,500 bounty for each arrest that ended in a deportation.

Like the others, Arizona’s Senate Bill 1111 failed to become law.