The Government’s Bounty Hunter Gamble: A New Low in Immigration Enforcement

The Department of Homeland Security’s latest move to hire private investigators to track down deported immigrants and others who have left the United States is a brazen escalation of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration efforts. By outsourcing the collection of fines and fees, the government is resorting to tactics more commonly associated with organized crime syndicates.

The program in question, dubbed Tracing and Payment Recovery Services, has a price tag of $9 million over two years. This sum seems paltry compared to the estimated $84 billion in fines issued by CBP against immigrants who have failed to depart the United States. The fines themselves are contentious, with many arguing that they amount to little more than extortion.

The program works as follows: contractors will be paid a set fee for each person they document notifying, with tiered bonuses for timely reporting. However, no payment is contingent on actual collections. This development raises serious questions about the government’s priorities and its willingness to indulge in creative accounting. Why invest millions of dollars in tracking down people who have already left the country? What exactly does this achieve beyond intimidating those who might be considering a move to the United States in the future?

The answer, it seems, lies in the program’s potential for generating revenue. The government would own all data collected by contractors, with unlimited rights to reuse and build upon it. This is not merely about recovering debts; it’s about creating a database of individuals who have been deemed undesirable by the US authorities. If civil penalties are collected under the program, they will be deposited into the Immigration Enforcement Account, a fund created to pay for the identification, apprehension, detention, and removal of immigrants.

The government’s reliance on private companies to collect sensitive information raises red flags about accountability and transparency. Contractors will use commercial data without specifying where this data originates from or how it is verified. Moreover, the documents reveal a disturbing lack of regard for due process, with fine notices seemingly designed to intimidate individuals into self-deporting.

Alina Das, director of NYU’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, notes that this move is a “significant escalation in tactics.” It follows on from other questionable practices, such as the Trump administration’s harsh anti-immigration efforts and its willingness to waive due process for those deemed to be a threat. The fact that lawmakers have raised objections underscores the gravity of this issue.

The government’s bounty hunter gamble is a reckless attempt to squeeze revenue from those who have already been deemed unwelcome. It sets a disturbing precedent for future immigration enforcement efforts, which could see more individuals caught up in a web of arbitrary fines and fees. The program’s architects would do well to consider the implications of their actions, lest they be seen as complicit in a larger campaign to demonize and disenfranchise certain groups.

As one lawyer put it, “It makes no sense to go after people here if they don’t have the money.” Indeed, what’s the point of chasing down individuals who have left the country? Is this merely an exercise in asserting authority, rather than serving any genuine purpose? The answer is far from clear, but one thing is certain: the government’s bounty hunter program will only serve to further erode trust between the US authorities and immigrant communities.