Sources: The Trump admin has bought access to a database tracking locations of millions of phones in the US and is using it for immigration and border control
Commercial database that maps movements of millions of cellphones is deployed by immigration and border authorities
Context & Ripple Effects
This report is the opening move in what became a documented pattern of federal agencies buying their way around warrant requirements through commercial location data. Within months, the IRS confirmed buying access to a marketing database of location data to track criminal suspects, and sources tied CBP and ICE specifically to Babel Street's Locate X tool, which traces phones through popular apps.
First-order effects
- CBP and ICE gain warrant-free visibility into the movements of millions of US phones, converting ad-industry data collected from consumer apps into an immigration enforcement asset.
Second-order effects
- Other agencies followed the same procurement shortcut: the IRS bought marketing location data for suspect tracking, and a later unclassified memo showed DIA analysts using commercial app-location databases without warrants, spreading the practice across immigration, tax, and intelligence missions.
Third-order effects
- Internal DHS documents later confirmed CBP's use of ad-industry location data and ICE purchases of similar tools, pointing toward a structural shift where the legal line between commercial data brokers and government surveillance is set by procurement contracts rather than warrants or privacy law.
The trend: Federal agencies are systematically substituting commercially purchased smartphone location data for court-ordered surveillance, with each new agency adoption normalizing the next.