Which vendors hold the largest active ICE contracts for surveillance and phone‑forensics tools as of 2026?

1. Cellebrite: the centerpiece of phone‑forensics spending

ICE renewed an approximately $11 million contract with Cellebrite for universal forensic extraction devices that can image phones and extract app data, messages and location history, and procurement notices show intents for broader awards to Cellebrite worth up to tens of millions more—indicating Cellebrite is among the largest single vendors for device‑level forensic work ^{[1] [2] [9]}.

2. Palantir: real‑time movement and big‑data analytics

Palantir commands one of the largest reported surveillance contracts, with reporting identifying a roughly $30 million award to provide “near real‑time visibility” over movements and link analysis—placing Palantir at the top of location analytics and data‑fusion spending even as civil‑liberties groups warn about mission creep ^[3].

3. Magnet Forensics / GrayKey: high‑volume unlocking and forensic processing

ICE acquired Magnet Forensics licenses and GrayKey‑type tools in contracts worth about $3 million and multiple smaller purchase orders, reflecting ongoing reliance on GrayKey‑style unlockers and forensic processing suites to extract and process device evidence across HSI units ^{[4] [10] [9]}.

4. Paragon / Paragone and remote‑intrusion tools

Reporting shows ICE activated multimillion‑dollar contracts with Paragon (also referred to as Paragone/Paragon Solutions), including an approximate $2 million contract for capabilities described as enabling remote compromise or “phone‑hacking,” which places the company among the key vendors for spyware and remote access tools ^{[6] [7] [3]}.

5. Clearview, PenLink and the expansion into biometric and network‑scale surveillance

Beyond phone forensics, Clearview AI holds multimillion‑dollar facial‑recognition contracts (reported around $9–10 million), and PenLink has been identified as a target supplier for “all‑in‑one” systems aggregating historical cell‑site and social media data—both contract lines show ICE buying tools that scale surveillance beyond single devices to population‑level matching and analytics ^{[11] [5] [7]}.

6. Specialist suppliers and infrastructure: TOSV, Flock and others

ICE’s procurement includes vehicle integrators and camera network vendors: TechOps Specialty Vehicles (TOSV) sold vans outfitted with cell‑site simulators in contracts around $825,000, and companies operating large camera networks like Flock have been implicated as data sources ICE can access—these suppliers are smaller in dollar terms per contract but crucial to fielding mobile and environmental collection capabilities ^{[8] [12] [13]}.

7. What the contract mix reveals and the political/advocacy angle

The pattern—major licenses to Cellebrite and Palantir, GrayKey/ Magnet orders, spyware contracts with Paragon, plus Clearview and PenLink purchases—shows ICE is buying both device‑level extraction and population‑scale analytics simultaneously, a mix that privacy and civil‑rights groups say expands deportation‑era surveillance and lowers guardrails; vendors and some defenders frame contracts as routine forensic and investigative tools for public‑safety missions, while advocacy groups highlight risks and mission creep ^{[1] [3] [14]}.

8. Limits of the public record and open questions

Public reporting and procurement notices document the largest named contracts and vendors but often include redactions and “intent to award” notices that obscure exact scopes, durations, and integration details; available sources do not provide a complete, auditable ranking of every active dollar or multi‑year obligation, so conclusions are based on the largest explicitly reported awards and procurement filings to date ^{[2] [10] [9]}.