Our “Bestiary”

Enforcement Integrated Database (EID)

A creature with many tentacles. At its center is a vortex descending into utter blackness. The creature holds a passport, a facial recognition image, an image of a fingerprint, and other objects in its tentacles.

Enforcement Integrated Database (EID) is an ICE “database repository” that stores extensive biometric and biographic information of individuals encountered, arrested, detained and deported by DHS sub-agencies. EID applications work together to create “person-centric” profiles of criminalized migrants that link with disparate data points from dozens of federal databases — including DNA samples, the US Courts’ PACER system files and US Postal Service bulk address datasets —  creating a fractal of criminalization potential.1   Information in EID is created and can be accessed by DHS sub-agencies via a suite of software applications known as EAGLE and ENFORCE. EID is one of ICE’s most vital and generative databases for data criminalization. 

As sociologist Ana Muñiz writes, “The biographic information stored in EID is notably broad and includes ‘name(s), aliases, date of birth, telephone numbers, addresses, nationality, citizenship, Alien Registration Number, Social Security Number, passport number, visa information, employment history, educational history, immigration history, and criminal history… Height, weight, eye color, hair color, and any other unique physical characteristics (e.g., scars, marks, tattoos).’

EID also contains information related to a subject’s travel, health, bond, case management, detention, detainers, family,2 spouse(s), “former and current cohabitants”3 and associates, as well as information about DHS agents’ encounters with individuals in the course of law enforcement activities. Lastly, EID and the ENFORCE and EAGLE applications process biometric information on suspects in the form of fingerprints, DNA, and photographs.”4

EID’s sources are vast as well, and include: NCIC files; suspects, victims, witnesses, and associates interviewed by DHS officers or agents; undercover operations and related surveillance technology; confidential informants; visa and immigration benefits applications, travel documents, and identification documents (i.e. visas, birth certificates); federal, state, local, tribal, international, or foreign governmental organizations; employers, schools, and universities; individuals making bond arrangements; applicants, sponsors, and those representing noncitizens during immigration benefit application processes; publicly and commercially available databases (i.e. newspapers, registries, social media); and other federal databases.

EAGLE & ENFORCE

EAGLE

EAGLE (EID Arrest Graphical User Interface for Law Enforcement) is a booking application (a “suite”) used to access data stored in EID.5 EAGLE allows multiple law enforcement officers and contractors in different locations (including via mobile devices) to confirm a person’s identity and access the same information simultaneously in order to research and build out a person’s biometric and biographic profile.6 EAGLE creates records in EID. 

 

EAGLE also submits biographic information, fingerprints, and arrest information to the FBI’s NGI biometric database (formerly IAFIS) for storage and for fingerprint-based criminal records checks. EAGLE receives the results of the fingerprint check from NGI, including any criminal history information or wants and warrants on the individual. EAGLE also submits biographic information, fingerprints, photographs, and arrest/encounter information to the DHS IDENT/ HART biometric database for enrollment and query. EAGLE will receive the results of the IDENT check, which include any matching biographic information, Fingerprint Identification Number, photographs, and previous encounter information. EAGLE receives and archives, among other things, information about foreign nationals who’ve visited the US — whose fingerprints and photographs from visa applications are stored in IDENT/ HART.7



ENFORCE

ENFORCE Alien Removal Module (EARM): EARM began as an ICE case management tool to track the status of detentions and deportations.8 Since 2010, it has been built out and expanded in scope. Today, EARM records include: multiple photos to track changes in a migrant detainee’s appearance, details about phone calls made by people being detained — including information about the person who was called, the person’s relationship to the detainee, the date and length of the call, the phone number that was called, whether the call was successful, and any freeform comments made by ICE deportation officers.9

EARM also records enrollment details for ICE’s ATD program, ISAP III, including the type of supervision that the individual will receive. (GPS location data collected from ISAP enrollees are stored on the contractor, B.I. Inc.’s databases.)

Prosecutions Module (PM): Tracks criminal cases by data-scraping public court records

DHS does not have one comprehensive system that tracks all criminal cases in real time and simultaneously identifies and locates individuals whose legal status make them deportable. One workaround the agency has created is the Prosecutions Module, or PM, which data scrapes information from the main US Courts online system, Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER).10 PM siphons data from PACER system to access case and docket information online from federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts.

Accessed through EARM, PM is used as part of ICE Enforcement Removal Office (ERO)’s Criminal Alien Program (CAP) “to track the status of aliens’ criminal cases as they move through the judicial system,” according to DHS’ Privacy Impact Assessment on EID in 2018. The focus of CAP and PM is on “identification and arrest of removable aliens who are incarcerated within federal, state and local prisons and jails, as well as at-large criminal aliens that have circumvented identification.”

PM can also access real-time information from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate information system (SENTRY), which shows where people serving prison sentences are held or moved.

OM²: Tracks location via addresses on file with utility providers and USPS 

Operations Management Module is used by ICE ERO officers to locate and track “leads” via addresses linked to them. According to a 2019 DHS Privacy Impact Assessment, OM² performs manual and batch checks against US Postal Service commercially available data sets that update city and state information by zip code. It can cross-reference those data against commercial sources that provide open source data that includes biographical information, criminal history, criminal case history, and vehicle information (including vehicle registration information). It includes “phone numbers of targets associated with the lead.”11

Law Enforcement Notification System (LENS): Notifies non-immigration law enforcement when people meeting certain criminalized criteria are released from ICE custody

LENS is a notification and messaging system within EARM that pulls data from EID to automatically screen people scheduled for release from ICE custody for certain “violent or serious crimes.”12 People who meet the criteria pre-selected by ICE are targeted for informal criminalization via notifications to non-immigration law enforcement informing them of the pending release.13 DHS acknowledged in its 2015 PIA of LENS that ICE officers rely on data from NCIC to determine “whether an alien has a qualifying conviction that triggers a LENS notification,” but alleged that “standard ICE practice” involves “validating the existence of a conviction with the primary source (e.g., the court or other appropriate source, such as a parole officer) while the alien is in ICE custody.”  

According to a 2015 Privacy Impact Assessment evaluating LENS, “Book-out, criminal conviction, and biographic information triggers the creation of a notification message” which is composed by LENS and sent via NLETS “to the law enforcement agency for the state from which the alien is being released as well as the state in which the alien intends to reside (if they are not the same).”14  

EDDIE is a mobile app that ICE agents use during raids and interrogations to scan and upload fingerprints and photographs of a person to EID (before or without taking anyone into formal custody).15  

Using EDDIE, an ICE officer in the field can “immediately query other government databases to determine if they contain the same fingerprints as those collected by ICE.”16 EDDIE can verify the identity of a subject presumably already known to ICE and is also used to identify a subject who is unknown to ICE by querying other government databases.  

EDDIE can query the FBI’s NGI system for criminal history information and IDENT for a person’s immigration history. In response to the query, NGI and/or IDENT send a response, in less than a minute, to EDDIE indicating whether there is a fingerprint match. A response with a positive “hit” in IDENT includes a “hit level” (based on the presence or absence of derogatory information found in the databases). This information can be manually entered into EID. The NGI response includes a list of potential candidates who may match the prints submitted by EDDIE. NGI also provides the candidate’s Identity History Summary, which was formerly referred to as a “rap sheet.” 

Information collected by EDDIE and uploaded to EID is viewable through EAGLE, allowing agents and officers in different locations to collaborate on a case. As a 2019 PIA described, “If an officer in the field enters data in EDDIE, another officer sitting at his or her workstation can view the information in EAGLE and enter additional data if needed. Likewise, an officer at his or her workstation can enter information in EAGLE, and an officer in the field can view it in EDDIE.”17

 

 

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