They Already Know.

Border Patrol purchased precise location data directly from the online advertising ecosystem — the same system that targets you with ads. No warrant. No judge. No notice. Your dating app, fitness tracker, and weather app are feeding a government surveillance database. ICE is actively shopping for more.

"Near real-time visibility" into immigrant movements using license plate reader networks, passport system flags, and location data. $30M ICE contract in 2025. If someone fails to appear for removal, their file is automatically escalated for enforcement. The system monitors an entire population continuously.

Cell-site simulators impersonate cell towers, forcing nearby phones to connect and revealing real-time location, device identifiers (IMSI/IMEI), and metadata. DHS and local law enforcement have deployed them at protests. They cannot read encrypted message content but log every phone in range. Confirmed in 13+ US cities.

Within 100 miles of any US border or coastline, CBP can stop and search you without a warrant, probable cause, or reasonable suspicion. Two-thirds of the US population lives in this zone — including all of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Miami, and Seattle.

CBP conducted 55,318 searches of phones, laptops, and tablets at the US border in FY2025 — a 16.7% increase from the prior year. No warrant required. No probable cause required. Any person entering the US, including citizens, can have their device searched.

Software deployed at border checkpoints pulls deleted files, encrypted messages, passwords, app data, and full location history from locked phones. Extraction takes approximately 90 seconds. Cellebrite and GrayKey products are under contract with DHS, CBP, and ICE.

TSA biometric programs now capture facial images at dozens of major airports. The program is expanding to domestic flights. Opting out is technically permitted — it is not clearly communicated. Images are compared against DHS passport and visa photo databases in real time.

CBP has proposed requiring 5 years of social media history from visitors in the visa-waiver program. In early 2025, French scientists were denied entry after agents found private messages criticizing Trump administration science funding cuts. Social media screening is now a documented basis for deportation.

Palantir employees were physically embedded inside the IRS building a searchable database of every American’s tax returns. $970M in federal contracts in 2025. 17 Thiel- and Palantir-connected people hold positions inside the Trump administration. The same company runs systems for ICE, CBP, and the Pentagon.

Through Palantir’s unified interface, IRS tax data is now accessible to ICE — enabling cross-referencing of financial information with immigration status. Tax returns include home addresses, employer information, bank account routing numbers, and family member information.

Clearview AI scraped over 40 billion photos from public social media without consent and built a facial recognition database. ICE, CBP, FBI, and hundreds of local law enforcement agencies hold contracts. Multiple courts have found the scraping illegal under state biometric privacy laws — the federal contracts continue regardless.

Facial recognition technology has been documented at protests in multiple US cities. NYPD, SFPD, and federal agencies have used facial recognition to identify and later arrest protesters. No federal law prohibits this use. Most states have no restriction.

TSA facial recognition is operational at 84 airports and expanding. Images are captured at boarding gates. The government retains photos for 12 hours for US citizens — and up to 75 years for non-citizens. Opt-out procedures are not prominently disclosed.

Buried in the FBI’s $12.5B FY2027 budget request: formal funding for a newly operational pre-crime center. 10 federal agencies dedicated to proactively identifying Americans the government considers domestic terrorists. NSPM-7 defines targets by belief: “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity.” No conduct threshold. No charge required.

Replaced the post-9/11 Terrorist Screening Center with an expanded mandate covering “all national security threats.” Domestic watchlists now track “nihilistic violent extremism” — a new category introduced in 2025 with no statutory definition.

Under Kash Patel, domestic terrorism investigations increased 300%. The expansion was documented in his confirmation testimony. The target population has expanded to include political activists, environmental protesters, and people who use encrypted communications.

NSPM-7 budget documentation lists use of encrypted messaging applications as a marker of potential domestic terrorism. DHS programs actively track keywords and flag accounts on social media platforms. Use of Signal, ProtonMail, and similar tools is explicitly noted in threat assessment criteria.

Named after the all-seeing crystal balls in Lord of the Rings. The name was not accidental. Palantir connects ICE, IRS, Pentagon, and CBP into a single searchable interface. One query can return your immigration status, tax filings, financial transactions, location history, and criminal record simultaneously. $970M in federal contracts in 2025.

200 JTTFs with 4,000+ personnel now operating under the NSPM-7 domestic terrorism mandate. JTTFs combine federal, state, and local law enforcement in a single command structure, sharing databases and intelligence — including watchlists and belief-based threat assessments.

Removed the ban on US government propaganda being broadcast to American audiences — a wall that stood since 1948. The original Smith-Mundt Act prohibited the US government from using State Department propaganda tools on domestic audiences. The 2012 modernization removed that restriction entirely.