ICE to spend $25M on iris recognition technology
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is spending more than five times what it did last year on a single vendor’s identity verification technology, according to procurement documents published this month.
ICE’s contract with BI2 Technologies from Sept. 24, 2025 to Sept. 23, 2026 totaled $4.6 million, while the new award, set to run from June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027, surpasses the $25 million mark.
The Massachusetts-based, venture capital-backed vendor will supply ICE agents with an additional batch of 1,570 iris-scanning devices. The handheld devices are wireless and connect to BI2 Technologies’ Inmate Identification and Recognition System, which provides access to 5 million-plus booking records, including arrest and incarceration data from 47 states.
“Their iris technology has been certified by the FBI and can be integrated with existing jail and records management systems, the Automation Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), and sex offender trafficking systems,” the Department of Homeland Security said in its justification for the sole-source contract. “BI2’s multimodal system integrates multiple biometric technologies, including iris, fingerprint, and facial recognition, into a single, mobile device.”
The multimodal approach, DHS added, keeps the system up and running even if one sensor, such as iris recognition, is compromised. The vendor has also incorporated features that enable agents to search through driver’s license and vehicle plate information.
Despite the massive amounts of sensitive data, the agency is moving forward with the contract even as BI2 Technologies has no public plans for FedRAMP authorization. DHS acknowledged BI2 Technologies’ lack of clearance in procurement documents posted last year, requiring the vendor to submit a draft security plan explaining the data strategy to protect ICE’s proprietary information and outlining its work toward FedRAMP certification.
The recently awarded contract arrives at a time when the DHS unit continues to build out its tech stack for in-the-field agents, focusing on identity verification via biometrics.
Mobile Fortify, an AI-powered mobile app comparing biometric information to agency records, rolled out one year ago and has attracted scrutiny from privacy advocates and lawmakers. In January, House Democrats introduced legislation that sought to bar mobile biometric apps outside of ports of entry.
“DHS should not be conducting surveillance by experimenting with Americans’ faces and fingerprints in the field — especially with unproven and biased technology,” Mississippi’s Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a press release following the bill’s introduction.
Biometric tracking is also the subject of a privacy probe launched by DHS’s Office of the Inspector General. The watchdog office kicked off the audit in February to take a look at the agency’s data collection, storage and sharing practices.
The OIG was facing challenges conducting oversight amid heightened tensions with DHS leadership and former Secretary Kristi Noem, but there are indicators that the resistance has somewhat subsided since Secretary Markwayne Mullin joined the agency. Even so, the White House’s proposed fiscal 2027 budget for the agency outlined a plan to significantly reduce funding and staff for the key oversight unit.
