Clashes between ICE and protesters come down to the technology
Clashes between ICE and protesters come down to the technology
Publish Date: 2026-01-30 14:02:00
Source Domain: www.semafor.com
The clash between immigration enforcement agents and protesters in Minneapolis is the latest front in a high-stakes global arms race between governments and their domestic foes over who has better technology — and who has the right to use it.
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — and the extra funding that came along with it — spearheaded an era of surveillance tech aided by Palantir and other powerful AI companies: Facial recognition apps that reveal a person’s immigration status, phone tracking technology, AI agents, and spyware that remotely hacks into phones and helps federal law enforcement target individuals.
Activists are also tapping tech to try and fight back. To warn community members when ICE agents are nearby, Sherman Austin, an activist and technician in Long Beach, California, created a national database of license plates connected with immigration operations, and a text alert system to track and broadcast the movements of federal agents.
“They’re running around en masse. They won’t identify themselves,” Austin said. “This is a tool that we can at least use to keep track of their whereabouts, so we can tell our friends and neighbors when they’re nearby.”
The tracking efforts have been described by the Trump administration and supporters as domestic terrorism, with Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale referring to activist networks as “organized illegal insurgency” and billionaire Elon Musk spreading posts on his platform with similar characterizations.
Apps that share the locations of federal agents paint “a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs,” connecting them to an increase in assaults on agents, ICE director Todd M. Lyons said in June, referencing an ICE-spotting app that officials pressured Apple to remove from its app store. (The DHS didn’t respond to requests for further comment).
From a legal perspective, participating in assaulting or impeding federal officers is illegal, and if a stranger…
