Before dawn on the morning of October 30, a Mexican farmworker had just left her home in Woodburn, Oregon with her son and nephew. The trio were driving to work in the fields when an unmarked SUV with police flashers pulled them over.
Unbeknownst to the group, their vehicle had been flagged using a powerful new data tool, part of the government’s expanding surveillance capabilities.
An ICE officer initially yelled at the driver to roll down the window. When the driver didn’t move fast enough, the officer then smashed the window. Almost immediately, a swarm of SUVs surrounded the car. The officers did not identify themselves as ICE or provide any explanation as to why they had made the traffic stop. They detained everyone in the van.
MJMA (as the asylum seeker is referred to in court filings to protect her from government reprisals) was terrified as agents pulled her out of the vehicle. Officers broke her finger as they handcuffed her, pinning her arms behind her back. “I felt so powerless and anxious,” she later told her lawyers.
MJMA was first transported to a holding cell in Portland. She was then quickly transferred out of state to Tacoma, Washington.
Her arrest, similar in many respects to the barrage of ICE detentions in communities nationwide, stands out for one fact. It involved the deployment of ELITE (Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement).
This powerful surveillance software, developed by Palantir Technologies, comes thanks to a $60 million investment by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The investment funds the ongoing enhancement of a suite of data weapons to track, target, detain, and deport immigrants.
Track, target, detain
MJMA’s detention was part of Operation Black Rose, specifically designed to give ICE agents experience in using ELITE. The surveillance tool has been described in some detail by 404 Media, a leading news service specializing in reporting on technology advances. In essence, ELITE facilitates ICE targeting of entire areas with concentrations of immigrants. The software then allows agents to aggregate data from multiple sources to target them.
Reports from Operation Black Rose suggest the data tools need further refinement. For example, Mobile Fortify, widely used to identify individuals’ legal status mis-identified MJMA twice.
As is typical in software that incorporates AI, however, performance may improve as additional data is acquired. If ICE gains access to large administrative datasets—e.g. MedicAid or SNAP—ICE can then use AI to merge that personal data with commercially available cellphone and social media data, together with license plate data, to make surveillance and arrests still easier. This can, of course, also increase the likelihood of mistakes.
News reports in Chicago and Minneapolis, meanwhile, suggest that ICE’s ability to cross-reference disparate data sources is rapidly expanding.
‘At large’ arrests
This all means more cost-effective and indiscriminate targeting of immigrants, criminal or otherwise. The Cato Institute reported in November (based on leaked internal Department of Homeland Security data) that only 5% of all ICE detainees had been convicted of a violent crime. Some 73% had not been convicted of any crime.
In states like Oregon, where MJMA was arrested and where state law prohibits police from cooperating with ICE, tools like ELITE allow the agency to carry out wide-area surveillance. It is no coincidence that Oregon is among the states where most ICE detentions (80%) have been warrantless “at large” arrests of non-criminals.
Part of ELITE’s appeal is cost. Historically, the average cost of an individual deportation has been approximately $17,000. Reaching the administration’s objective of 1 million deportations per year would therefore run upwards of $17 billion annually.
The technology also comes as the administration has removed guardrails protecting against warrantless search and seizure. Following Trump’s 2025 Executive Order, new DHS guidelines no longer limit ICE to detaining just criminals. The agency can now arrest virtually any unauthorized immigrant.
Those now vulnerable to arbitrary arrest in community-wide ICE sweeps empowered by ELITE include DACA recipients. It also includes immigrants like MJMA, who was planning to seek asylum.
Legal aid
In her case, MJMA was able to secure her release after just two days in detention, thanks to legal aid from Innovation Law Lab. The Portland based organization filed a class action lawsuit on her behalf. The suit calls into question ICE’s increasing numbers of warrantless arrests. It also challenges how the agency uses data-weapons such as ELITE to conduct wide-area sweeps in immigrant neighborhoods.
Two other Oregon immigrants—one a middle-aged Guatemalan woman who is a small store owner and a legal permanent resident, the other a middle-aged man who has lived in the U.S. for 40 years, a U visa applicant and is lawfully present and employed—were added to the litigation as co-plaintiffs in December. Both were roughly and arbitrarily detained in “at large” arrests similar to MJMA’s.
ICE’s use of data-weapons such as ELITE broadens the digital dragnet it uses for indiscriminate arrests in what it calls “target rich” environments. The focus is not actually on detaining “the worst of the worst.” The aim is to bulk up numbers of daily arrests to meet the arbitrary quota of 3,000 set by White House advisor Stephen Miller.
Yet despite the power and financial resources available to ICE, sound legal support can make a huge difference. That is especially the case for detained immigrants like MJMA and her co-plaintiffs. Unlike immigration courts, which are controlled by the Department of Justice, federal courts remain committed to following the law. Of which ICE’s current aggressive enforcement often falls afoul.
Increased ICE funding
There is no definitive information about the proportion of ICE detentions which stem from warrantless arrests. It is likely, however, that in 2025 at least one-third, or several hundred thousand detentions were warrantless, at-large arrests made during community sweeps.
Given dramatic increases in FY26 federal funding for ICE—President Trump’s yearly budget includes a proposed $11.3 billion for the agency—and escalating enforcement, improved surveillance technology such as ELITE is a worrisome weapon. (The House on Thursday passed a spending package that includes increased funding for ICE. Seven Democrats joined with Republicans in approving the measure.)
As we saw in Los Angeles and now in Minneapolis, ICE tactics initially used against immigrants can be easily deployed and viciously used against US citizens as well.
Ed Kissam has researched census data issues for more than three decades and published extensively on differential undercounts of farmworkers and Latinos. He has led research on farmworker and immigrant issues sponsored by the Department of Labor, the Commission on Agricultural Workers, and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture.
Feature image Public Domain license.
The spread of surveillance technology opens the door to more warrantless arrests that happen under the radar and allow fed agencies to target individuals without conducting mass raids. Once in place, this turns the US into a surveillance state, no matter who is president.