DHS Hiring "Bounty Hunters" For Overseas Tracking Of Deported Migrants

The Trump administration is planning to hire private investigators to track down deported immigrants in their home countries, verify where they live, and deliver notices seeking payment of U.S. immigration fines, according to Wired.

The proposed program, budgeted at up to $9 million over two years, would cover countries including Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Rather than collecting money directly, contractors would be paid to confirm a person's location using evidence such as photographs of their residence, public records, utility bills, employment information, or other documentation accepted by the government. They would also hand-deliver notices listing any outstanding penalties.

Wired writes that the initiative comes as DHS says it has assessed more than $84 billion in civil immigration fines, including "failure-to-depart" penalties that can accumulate to hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars. Although the administration has encouraged migrants to self-deport by promising to forgive many of these fines, legal advocates argue the new overseas tracking effort undercuts that message because some penalties can still remain.

Immigration attorneys and civil rights groups describe the program as a major expansion of enforcement, saying it targets people who have already left the United States and raises due process and privacy concerns. CBP, meanwhile, maintains that the effort is intended to enforce existing legal obligations and notify individuals of debts owed to the U.S. government.

Legal experts say the initiative represents a major escalation. NYU law professor Alina Das called it a "significant escalation in tactics," while attorney Charles Moore described it as "part and parcel" of the administration's broader immigration crackdown. Hasan Shafiqullah, who is challenging the fines in court, questioned the effort's purpose: "What’s the point of this?"

The proposal builds on ICE's growing use of private "skip-tracing" contractors inside the United States, extending similar investigative practices to people living abroad.