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ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

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Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#11

Post by cosmicgadget »

asacrowflies wrote: post #8
psunavy03 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Federal government agency is "a paramilitary group operating illegally inside the US?" What? "I think they're being employed in a shitty and potentially illegal manner outside their remit" is a perfectly arguable take that doesn't require tinfoil-hattery.

How is what is supposed to be "law enforcement" repelling from helicopters to ziptie children and running over protesters with armored personnel carriers and receiving satellite and cellphone intelligence and coordinating with that national guard ....not "paramilitary"

They bring their own ill-fitting gear and jump out of U-hauls. Sure they have the occasional off-the-shelf imsi catcher. "Wannabe paramilitary", final offer.

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#13

Post by cosmicgadget »

hedora wrote: post #4
leakycap wrote: post #2

> the relationship between the agency and the company predates the Trump administration IMSI catchers/stingrays have been common practice in local law enforcement for decades, haven't they? How is this different? > Some cell-site simulators can also intercept regular calls, text messages, and internet traffic. In what decade was this true, other than text messages? I don't think it is very easy even for an IMSI catch…

It's different because ICE is a paramilitary group operating illegally inside the US. They don't get warrants, engage in racial profiling, disappeared 2/3rds of the people sent to some of their facilities, arrest citizens, assault peaceful protesters, etc. They're doing this over the objection of state and local authorities, and despite the fact that their actions have been repeatedly ruled illegal by the courts.

It is critical to understand that as a general rule, what they are doing is completely legal. We created the conditions for this to happen and are empowered to change it.

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#15

Post by JumpCrisscross »

cosmicgadget wrote: post #13
hedora wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's different because ICE is a paramilitary group operating illegally inside the US. They don't get warrants, engage in racial profiling, disappeared 2/3rds of the people sent to some of their facilities, arrest citizens, assault peaceful protesters, etc. They're doing this over the objection of state and local authorities, and despite the fact that their actions have been repeatedly ruled illegal by the courts.

It is critical to understand that as a general rule, what they are doing is completely legal. We created the conditions for this to happen and are empowered to change it.

> as a general rule, what they are doing is completely legal

In general, particularly in the past, yes. Currently, a statistically significant number of ICE agents are acting outside the colour of law, in some cases with possibly treasonous intent.

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#16

Post by JumpCrisscross »

theultdev wrote: post #9
kokanee wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might not like the tone, but I don't see what makes the words false. "Paramilitary" describes a non-military group behaving similarly to a military group, and we're talking about armed masked men sweeping homes, taking prisoners, and engaging in violent conflicts. "Operating illegally" means that federal, state, or local laws have been broken, and that seems to be the case, e.g. Gonzalez v. ICE.

Federal law supersedes state law. ICE is simply enforcing federal immigration laws.

> ICE is simply enforcing federal immigration laws

“From January to June, the average number of detainees per day in ICE custody rose 43 percent, to more than 57,000. But since July, when the [OBBA] funding was approved, the detainee population has increased only about 5 percent, to roughly 60,000, the latest statistics show.

The stream of social-media clips showing masked federal agents kicking down doors, raiding Home Depot parking lots, and pulling people from their car have kept up the appearance of an ever-expanding campaign. ICE’s own data show that the agency’s buildup stalled over the summer” [1].

Meanwhile, with first-year deportations around 400,000 [2], they stand to match what Obama did in 2012 [3], despite spending $40 to 70bn, or 10 to 15x, more [4][5].

Instead of enforcing our immigration laws, ICE is involved in domestic policing, partisan intimidation and the illegal detention of American citizens.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/10/ice-imm...

[2] https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/09/23/new-milestone-over-2-mil...

[3] https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20200109/110349/HHRG...

[4] https://www.ice.gov/factsheets/budget2012 $5.8bn, FY2012, $8.2bn CPI adjusted to ‘25

[5] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ice-budget-big-beautiful-b... $45 to 75 billion under OBBBA

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#17

Post by JumpCrisscross »

NoiseBert69 wrote: post #6

Why aren't they using the official lawful interception interfaces? They will get all the data. Not only voice, data and SMS/RCS. All modern smartphones (like Pixels) allow you to switch off 2G. They even warn if you want to activate it.

> Why aren't they using the official lawful interception interfaces?

They may not want to leave a paper trail.

“To obtain a [legal] wiretap order, law enforcement must demonstrate probable cause to a judge” [1]. Given ICE has been arresting Americans, they probably aren’t bothering with cause. Legal intercepts also require “minimization procedures to limit the interception of conversations unrelated to the investigation,” which ICE may not want to do. And perhaps most importantly, “violations of 18 U.S.C. § 2511 are considered federal felonies,” with those convicted facing criminal penalties and being subject to civil liability.

I hate to make this analogy, but it’s akin to the Gestapo’s NBH obsession. They knew they were acting illegally, and didn’t want to leave the evidence that would convict them.

[1] https://legalclarity.org/what-is-wiretapping-and-when-is-it-...

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#19

Post by JumpCrisscross »

cosmicgadget wrote: post #11
asacrowflies wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is what is supposed to be "law enforcement" repelling from helicopters to ziptie children and running over protesters with armored personnel carriers and receiving satellite and cellphone intelligence and coordinating with that national guard ....not "paramilitary"

They bring their own ill-fitting gear and jump out of U-hauls. Sure they have the occasional off-the-shelf imsi catcher. "Wannabe paramilitary", final offer.

> bring their own ill-fitting gear and jump out of U-hauls

ICE ran a 5AM motorcade through my mountain town, compete with helicopter escort. We’re in a red state, though, and border a red farm state, so I understand they were actually told to knock it off.

> "Wannabe paramilitary", final offer

The only part of a definition [1] that ICE might fail is in whether they’re professionally designated to act as a secret police. If by wannabe you’re saying ICE intends to be and act like a paramilitary, you’ve effectively conceded the point.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramilitary

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#20

Post by fzeroracer »

psunavy03 wrote: post #5
hedora wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's different because ICE is a paramilitary group operating illegally inside the US. They don't get warrants, engage in racial profiling, disappeared 2/3rds of the people sent to some of their facilities, arrest citizens, assault peaceful protesters, etc. They're doing this over the objection of state and local authorities, and despite the fact that their actions have been repeatedly ruled illegal by the courts.

A Federal government agency is "a paramilitary group operating illegally inside the US?" What? "I think they're being employed in a shitty and potentially illegal manner outside their remit" is a perfectly arguable take that doesn't require tinfoil-hattery.

It doesn't require any tinfoil-hattery though because everything they're doing is very public. Like you look at their actions Chicago [1] and I think it's impossible to NOT think they're an illegal paramilitary group. They're rounding up, detaining and arresting US citizens and destroying their property under the guise of sweeping illegal immigrants. They've violated people's constitutional rights multiple times over.

[1] https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/01/massive-...

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