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The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who are carrying out Donald Trump’s bigoted anti-immigrant crackdown may soon have access to previously banned spy tools that foreign governments have used to target journalists and political dissidents.
The Trump administration this week reactivated a contract with Paragon Solutions, a spyware company that had its federal contract put on hold last year due to restrictions the Biden administration imposed on the use of commercial spyware that had a record of being deployed in repressive ways abroad.
A federal procurement form, posted via journalist Jack Poulson’s All-Source Intelligence newsletter this week, shows the Trump administration’s instructions to “lift the stop work order” on a $2 million contract with Paragon. Paragon’s technology allows users to surveil targets through various methods, like hacking encrypted message platforms or turning targets’ phones into listening devices. Earlier this year, officials in Italy’s right-wing government decided to sever ties with the company after reports that its tools had been used to target journalists and pro-immigrant advocates — two groups that Trump and his administration have attacked in a number of ways.
As The Washington Post notes:
Although it has held itself out as a more ethical version of NSO Group, the U.S.-banned maker of Pegasus phone spyware, Paragon drew criticism this year after traces of its powerful Graphite tool were found on the devices of Italian journalists, advocates for migrants, and associates of Pope Francis. During a government inquiry that followed, Italian officials acknowledged responsibility for some but not all of the breaches. Paragon then said it had stopped working with Italian government agencies.
Earlier this year, Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon over allegations the latter had targeted dozens of WhatsApp users, including journalists. The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto also compiled a report on the numerous controversies surrounding Paragon, which you can read here.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to MSNBC’s request for comment. Paragon, which does not publicly list contact information, did not respond to a recent request for comment from Bloomberg News, but the executive chairman for its U.S. division previously told the outlet that it is “deeply committed to following all US laws and regulations.”
It’s unclear what services ICE intends to have Paragon provide under the agreement. But the potential for the Trump administration — which has threatened people who report on ICE’s activities, has condemned groups that provide aid to immigrants and has openly targeted immigrants for their political views — to wield anything even resembling Paragon’s Graphite technology against U.S. residents is raising alarms.
The Post article notes the deal has frightened experts and other observers who are worried about what it could mean for the future of civil rights under Trump. This quote from Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon just about sums up those concerns:
‘ICE is already shredding due process and ruining lives in its rush to lock up kids, cooks and firefighters who pose no threat to anyone,’ Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) wrote in an email, adding that he had asked ICE for a briefing. ‘I’m extremely concerned about how ICE will use Paragon’s spyware to further trample on the rights of Americans and anyone who Donald Trump labels as an enemy.’