Our “Bestiary”

ICM/TECS

A robotic centaur-like monster with the legs of horse, and the body of a humanoid robot. The monster is wearing the tactical military vest of a U.S. border guard and a cowboy hat. It is armed with a large whip, a large machine gun, and a walkie talkie device.

TECS, CBP’s international entry/ exit log of crossings of US borders since 1987, is being “modernized” into ICM, an “intelligence system” and database index built by the Silicon Valley tech company, Palantir. ICM is based on Palantir’s off-the-shelf Gotham tool designed for police departments, but is configured specifically for DHS’ Homeland Security Investigations.

ICM allows instantaneous search of other government intelligence platforms such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI. ICM can access AFI (also made by Palantir, and detailed below) and can query ACRIMe. Users of ICM can access both government-owned and private criminalizing databases and biometric data.Footnote 1 These include the FBI Terrorist Screening Center’s Terrorist Screening Database,Footnote 2 NCIC,Footnote 3 and Nlets.Footnote 4

Since 1987, CBP officers have used TECS as their main system at the border and elsewhere to screen arriving travelers and determine their admissibility. TECS recorded law enforcement “lookouts,” border screening data, and reporting from CBP’s primary and secondary inspection processes. TECS includes free-form notes written by CBP officers and Border Patrol agents about individuals with whom they interact. CBP officers and Border Patrol agents can allege that someone’s behavior might be related to intelligence gathering or preoperational planning related to terrorism, criminal, or other illicit intention; this notation will stay on a person’s permanent record, regardless of the outcome of the encounter.Footnote 5

Buying an airline ticket for an international flight creates a flag in the TECS system if you are already being tracked in the database.Footnote 6 ICE analysts can sign up for notification alerts, so if you have a final order of removal, for example, and purchase an international airline ticket in your name, ICE can send agents to meet you at the airport.Footnote 7

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Jump back to text at footnote 1Spencer Woodman, “Palantir Provides the Engine for Donald Trump's Deportation Machine,” The Intercept, March 2, 2017, https://theintercept.com/2017/03/02/palantir-provides-the-engine-for-do….
Jump back to text at footnote 2Privacy Office, Department of Homeland Security, “Notice of Privacy Act System of Records: Department of Homeland Security/ALL-030 Use of the Terrorist Screening Database System of Records,” Federal Register, April 6, 2016, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/04/06/2016-07895/privacy….
Jump back to text at footnote 3Mary Ellen Callahan, “Privacy Impact Assessment for the TECS System: CBP Primary and Secondary Processing,” Department of Homeland Security website, December 22, 2010, https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy-pia-cbp-te….
Jump back to text at footnote 4Callahan, “PIA for the TECS System: CBP Primary and Secondary Processing,” DHS, 2010.
Jump back to text at footnote 5U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Privacy Impact Assessment Update for the TECS System: CBP Primary and Secondary Processing (TECS) National SAR Initiative DHS/CBP/PIA-009(a),” Department of Homeland Security website (Department of Homeland Security, August 5, 2011), https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy-pia-cbp-te….
Jump back to text at footnote 6Brian Hauss, “Documents Shed Light on Border Laptop Searches,” ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, June 9, 2013, https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/privacy-and-surveillance/do….
Jump back to text at footnote 7Edward Hasbrouck, “How airline reservations are used to target illegal searches,” The Identity Project, September 17, 2013, https://papersplease.org/wp/2013/09/17/how-airline-reservations-are-use….