ICE Skip Tracing Program — $1.2B across 13 contractors (Dec 2025)
In November 2025, ICE launched a program to contract private-sector “skip tracing” services to locate immigrants on ICE’s docket. In December 2025, ICE awarded contracts to 13 private companies with a combined potential value of $1.2 billion over two years, targeting up to 1.5 million immigrants.
How It Works
Contractors receive personal data on targets – names, dates of birth, addresses, contact information. Each company may receive up to 50,000 cases per month. The process:
- First, use all available digital surveillance tools (AI, databases, commercial surveillance) to locate individuals
- If digital methods fail, move to physical, in-person surveillance of homes and workplaces
- Monetary bounties for successful locates, paid based on speed
Critical Detail: No Credentials
Contractors conducting physical surveillance on immigrant communities are not given any DHS credentials. They carry no badges, no identification linking them to the federal government. They are, functionally, private individuals stalking homes and workplaces with no visible authority.
The 13 Contractors
| Contractor | Ceiling Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Capgemini Government Solutions | $365M | French multinational; largest award; initial $4.8M order |
| Bluehawk LLC | $200M+ | Florida-based military contractor |
| BI Incorporated (GEO Group) | $121M | Already has ISAP surveillance data on 183,000+ people |
| Constellis Holdings | $113M | Blackwater/Academi successor; $1.5M paid so far |
| SOS International | TBD | Virginia-based |
| Response AI Solutions | TBD | Virginia-based |
| Gravitas Investigations | TBD | Ohio-based private investigation firm |
| Fraud Inc | TBD | Texas-based |
| EnProVera | TBD | |
| Government Support Services | TBD | |
| 3 additional firms | TBD | Not yet fully identified in reporting |
The Surveillance-to-Enforcement Pipeline
The skip tracing program represents a qualitative escalation: surveillance companies are no longer just providing data or platforms – they are directly participating in locating and facilitating the arrest of individuals. The program effectively creates a private bounty hunter army with AI and surveillance tools.
BI Incorporated’s Unique Position
BI Incorporated’s dual role is particularly alarming: the same company that monitors immigrants through ISAP ankle monitors and the SmartLINK app (see bi-incorporated-isap-v) now hunts them when they stop complying (see bi-incorporated-skip-tracing). The monitoring data feeds directly into enforcement targeting. The entity that tracks you is the entity that hunts you.
Capgemini’s Internal Doubts
In January 2026, the Washington Post reported that Capgemini was having internal doubts about the contract, questioning whether the reputational risk was worth the $365 million ceiling.
Sources
- The Intercept: 10 companies already made $1M as ICE bounty hunters (Dec 2025)
- The Intercept: Blackwater successor Constellis hunts immigrants (Jan 2026)
- The Intercept: Lawmaker Challenges ICE Plan to Hire Bounty Hunters (Nov 2025)
- Washington Post: ICE farms immigrant-tracking to outside companies. One now has doubts. (Jan 2026)
- American Immigration Council: ICE bounty hunters use AI
- Jersey Vindicator: ICE taps GEO subsidiary $121M deal (Jan 2026)
- State of Surveillance: GEO Group surveillance pivot
- Jacobin: ICE Is Planning to Build a Bounty Hunter Army (Nov 2025)
- Immigration Policy Tracking
- Project Salt Box: ICE Awards $1.1B in Skip Tracing Contracts
- Multinationales Observatory: How a top French corporation got involved