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

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid $825,000 earlier this year to a company that manufactures vehicles equipped with various technologies for law enforcement, including fake cellphone towers known as "cell-site simulators," which can be used to spy on nearby phones. According to public records, the award dated May 8 "provides Cell Site Simulator (CSS) Vehicles to support the Homeland Security Technical Operations program" and is a modification for "additional CSS Vehicles.""

"TOSV president Jon Brianas told TechCrunch in an email that he could not provide details about the ICE contracts and the vehicles, citing "trade secrets." But Brianas did confirm that the company does provide cell-site simulators, although it does not make them. "We don't manufacture electrical, comms, and technology components, we integrate that product into our overall design of the vehicle," said Brianas, who declined to say from where TOSV sources its cell-site simulators."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement awarded an $825,000 contract on May 8 for vehicles equipped with cell-site simulators to support the Homeland Security Technical Operations program. The contract was signed with Maryland-based TechOps Specialty Vehicles and modifies a prior agreement; TOSV signed a similar $818,000 contract with ICE in September 2024. TOSV confirmed it integrates but does not manufacture cell-site simulators and declined to disclose their source, citing trade secrets. Federal use of cell-site simulators has been connected to immigration enforcement actions, including a reported use to locate a person tied to a criminal gang ordered to leave the country in 2023.

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