Ron Wyden is demanding an investigation after learning that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been secretly tracking and collecting records of 200 million US money transfers without a warrant for at least the past 12 years.
The Oregon Democratic Senator’s office first became aware of the program last month, and Wyden said in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general that Congress first became aware of the program’s existence. It is reported by The Wall Street Journal. after viewing the letter.
DHS law enforcement collected information on domestic and international transfers in excess of $500. Arizona, CaliforniaNew Mexico and Texas, as well as money transfers for that amount to or from Mexico from anywhere in the United States.
“Given the many serious questions raised by this disturbing program, I ask you to investigate the origin of the program, how it worked, and whether the program was consistent with agency policy, statutory law, and the Constitution,” Sen. Wyden wrote to the DHS Inspector. General Joseph Cuffari.
Until at least 2019, dozens of money transfer companies voluntarily shared transaction information with ICE.
Wyden asked Caffari to find out if the National Security Investigation Service (HSI) was running similar programs. He also demanded that DHS ensure that such activities are under congressional oversight.
According to Wyden’s letter, the previously undisclosed spying program began at least in 2010 and is linked to the fact that the Arizona Attorney General’s Office began collecting data from Western Union after settling a money laundering case with a financial company.
Senator Ron Wyden is demanding that DHS investigate a mass surveillance program that has allowed at least 200 million domestic and international money transfers to be secretly collected between Mexico and the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas since 2010 without a warrant.
A separate money laundering agreement between Western Union and the state of Arizona in 2014 led to the creation of the Transaction Record Analysis Center (TRAC), which holds data on the money transfers described in Widen’s letter.
“Our office uses TRAC, a federally funded program to legally monitor international wire transfers of cash from the border states to Mexico,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich spokeswoman Cathy Conner said in a statement.
“This is done to combat human and drug trafficking. Ironically, during a historic border crisis, this would be the focus of any U.S. senator,” she added.
While the program is seen as a way to stop illegal activity from abroad, privacy advocates briefed on the program by Wyden employees have said that the use of non-governmental organizations to collect and store data that law enforcement has access to is unusual.
“I can’t think of another scheme like this that combines the illegal use of subpoenas with an inscrutable private non-profit organization just for the purpose of posting this information,” American Civil Liberties Union senior attorney Nathan Fried Wessler told the magazine.
He stated that since these organizations are not subject to state public records laws, this “has the effect of shielding this hugely important program from public scrutiny.”
Western Union, along with dozens of other money transfer companies, voluntarily shared data with TRAC until 2019, Wyden elaborates, when the agreement with the Arizona attorney general’s office ended.
The program falls under the purview of ICE, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, and is positioned as a way to stop drug and human trafficking, as well as other cross-border crimes. Pictured: DHS Secretary Alejandro Mallorcas (left) participates in a flag-raising ceremony at the headquarters of the former mental hospital campus in West St. Elizabeth, February 2, 2021.
When the agreements did expire, Arizona AG approached ICE to force companies to continue sharing remittance data, using the law to investigate people and goods moving in and out of the US.
Between July 2019 and January 2022, ICE sent six subpoenas to Western Union and two to Maxitransfers Corp. in 2021, each requesting six months of relevant data, the magazine notes.
According to Wyden’s aide, ICE investigators have collected about 6 million records of international TRAC money transfers through Western Union and Maxitransfers alone since 2019, which is just 3 percent of the data held by the host program. This means that TRAC has information on at least 200 million money transfers.
The data allegedly includes the names, addresses and identification numbers of money transfer senders, as well as the names and addresses of recipients.
After Wyden’s office contacted DHS about the program, the calling agreement with Western Union and Maxitransfers ended in January, but other voluntary filings continue, a Wyden aide and a separate government official said.
ICE has agreed to stop using its calling authority for the Program, but the agency and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continue to use the data for their investigations. For example, ICE used TRAC to seize 150,000 counterfeit pain pills in Oregon, Wyden, which were brought there by a Mexican drug smuggler whose transactions were monitored by the government.
DHS law enforcement still does not have a director.
Although Tae Johnson has been in office since January 13, 2021, the position has been officially opened for the past five years since former President Barack Obama left office.
The agency appears to be unable to approve a director, especially since Republicans are pushing for tougher immigration enforcement and progressives are calling for the total abolition of ICE.