ICE says it bought Paragon’s spyware to use in drug trafficking cases

The acting caput of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told lawmakers that it has bought and utilized spyware made by Paragon Solutions successful cause trafficking cases, according to a letter seen by TechCrunch.

ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons wrote successful the missive to 3 congresspeople that helium approved the agency’s transgression investigative portion Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to usage “cutting-edge technological tools” to antagonistic “foreign violent organizations’ thriving exploitation of encrypted connection platforms,” successful a notation to spyware. 

Law enforcement’s inability to entree encrypted information has often been cited arsenic a justification for their request to usage machine and cellphone spyware for large transgression cases, arsenic it tin drawback a person’s information straight from their device. Critics and quality rights defenders person agelong pointed to the increasing database of journalists, politicians, and members of civilian society whose phones person been hacked by governments utilizing commercialized spyware.

In the letter, Lyons said ICE’s usage of spyware would “comply with law requirements,” and that helium “certified that HSI’s operational usage of the circumstantial instrumentality does not airs important information oregon counterintelligence risks, oregon important risks of improper usage by a overseas authorities oregon overseas person.”

Bloomberg first reported the ICE’s missive to lawmakers.

In 2024, ICE signed a contract with U.S.-Israeli spyware shaper Paragon Solutions, a woody that was promptly suspended by the Biden medication to ascertain whether it complied with an enforcement order that restricts U.S. agencies from utilizing spyware that could beryllium utilized to people Americans overseas oregon interruption quality rights.

In September 2025, ICE lifted the artifact and reactivated the contract. Until now, however, it wasn’t wide if ICE had planned to usage Paragon’s spyware.

The spyware shaper has been ensnared successful a wide-ranging ungraded successful Italy, wherever journalists and pro-immigration activists were revealed to person been targeted with Paragon’s spyware Graphite past year. In response, Paragon chopped disconnected Italy’s quality agencies from utilizing its spyware tools.

When reached for comment, Democrat Rep. Summer Lee, 1 of the lawmakers who had requested accusation from ICE, told TechCrunch that the bureau is present moving guardant “with invasive spyware exertion wrong the United States. 

The lawmaker added, “instead of answering the superior law and civilian rights concerns that we raised, DHS is asking the nationalist to judge vague assurances and fear-based justifications.”

“The radical astir astatine risk, including immigrants, Black and brownish communities, journalists, organizers, and anyone speaking retired against authorities abuse, merit much than secrecy and deflection from an bureau with a agelong grounds of overreach and abuse,” said Lee.

Paragon and ICE did not respond to a petition for remark and questions from TechCrunch astir the agency’s usage of spyware.