\n<\/p>\n
Immigration and Customs<\/span> Enforcement has already hired 10 contractors to carry out its immigrant bounty hunting program, according to records reviewed by The Intercept. The firms included companies that had previous deals with spy agencies and the military, private investigators that boast of their physical surveillance skills, and a private prison giant.<\/p>\n In November, ICE launched a process to get private sector \u201cskip tracing\u201d services, where corporate investigators use digital snooping tools and on-the-ground surveillance to track immigrants in exchange for monetary bonuses<\/a>. ICE procurement records indicate the agency will be targeting as many as 1.5 million immigrants in the U.S.<\/p>\n Taken together, records show the 10 companies have been made over $1 million to date \u2014 and stand to make over $1 billion by the contract\u2019s end in 2027. Some of the companies\u2019 roles in the bounty hunting program have been previously reported, including by The Intercept<\/a>, but others \u2014 such as Bluehawk, EnProVera, and Gravitas \u2014 are being revealed here for the first time. (None of the 10 companies commented for this story.)<\/p>\n The bonanza<\/a> for federal contractors comes as the Trump administration\u2019s focus on deportations has led to a massive increase in ICE\u2019s budget<\/a>. The companies range from those with extensive experience doing intelligence work to those with more mundane government contracting experience, like finding janitors for federal agencies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Among the companies poised to cash in on the bounty hunting program, the largest potential haul \u2014 over $365 million \u2014 could go to Capgemini Government Solutions, a McLean, Virginia-based federal consultancy that has a long track record working for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, including providing intelligence services for ICE.<\/p>\n Florida-based Bluehawk LLC stands to reap the second largest payout from bounty hunting, at over $200 million. Bluehawk is a longtime contractor for the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence community, providing intelligence collection and analysis, as well as counterintelligence services.<\/p>\n In September, Bluehawk announced<\/a> it was beginning counterintelligence work for the Department of Homeland Security. Like some of the other contractors tapped by ICE, the company is focusing on immigration after honing its capabilities doing war on terror-era <\/a>military and intelligence operations. The company\u2019s advisers include former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Ronald Burgess and Dell Dailey, a retired Army lieutenant general who ran U.S. Joint Special Operations Command following the September 11 attacks.<\/p>\n Government Support Services helps staff roles for janitors, groundskeepers, and security guards at government agencies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n\n