A top Senate Democrat is pressing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to account for a secretive $2 million software acquisition — one that critics say could give the agency sweeping power to secretly infiltrate mobile devices and harvest private communications, photos, location data and more.
Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter dated July 23 — obtained by CBS News — demanding answers about ICE's sole-source contract for Graphite, a phone-penetration tool built by Paragon Solutions and currently held by a firm called REDLattice.
Peters characterized the deal as "one of the most significant expansions of DHS and ICE's surveillance ambitions to date," warning that it raises serious civil liberties concerns as well as potential risks to national security.
The senator pointed to documented cases of abuse, noting that more than 90 journalists and members of civil society across multiple countries had alrEADy been targeted using the technology. "Misuse of Graphite is not hypothetical," he wrote.
Though Peters stops short of accusing ICE of deploying the spyware against Americans, he said he was "deeply troubled about how Graphite might be used in the United States to target Americans" — particularly given existing concerns about the agency monitoring protest activity, social media and other constitutionally protected speech.
Among the disclosures Peters is seeking: whether Graphite has been activated on U.S. soil, which individuals or groups have been subjected to it, how many people — both American and foreign — have been swept up, and what legal basis the agency is relying on to justify the tool's use. He also wants to know whether data collected through Graphite has been passed along to other federal agencies, private companies or nonprofit organizations.
The letter further requests contracts, privacy impact assessments, civil rights reviews and internal security policies tied to a September 2024 agreement, an October 2024 stop-work order and the contract's subsequent reactivation in August 2025.
Peters noted that his committee staff had sought briefings from the Department of Homeland Security in December 2025 and from ICE in January 2026, but received no substantive reply from either. He is now calling for an immediate briefing and has set an August 7 deadline for ICE to hand over documents and respond to his questions about the spyware's deployment, oversight framework and security safeguards.
Because Republicans control Congress, Peters lacks the authority to compel compliance — his demands carry the weight of a request rather than a subpoena. No official response from ICE, DHS, Graphite or REDLattice is reported in the source.
This story is based solely on information reported by CBS News. No additional facts have been introduced.