Workforce

ICE seeks support for app that tracks visa, immigration violators

The Counterterrorism and Criminal Exploitation Unit uses LeadTrac to track leads it refers to Homeland Security Investigations.

By Dave Nyczepir

February 6, 2020

ICE agents with some of the suspects arrested in operation "Night Moves." (Photo Courtesy of ICE)

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants a contractor to operate and maintain its application for tracking leads in terrorism and criminal investigations of visiting foreign nationals who violate their visa status.

ICE issued a request for information Tuesday to manage its LeadTrac system — the IT element used by its Counterterrorism and Criminal Exploitation Unit (CTCEU).

The Counterterrorism and Criminal Exploitation Unit last updated the LeadTrac app in 2016 to assist with investigations of suspected terrorists and criminals using the immigration system. T-Rex Solutions, LLC has held the current contract to support and modernize LeadTrac since September 2015.

CTCEU consists of two sections: The Terrorist Tracking and Pursuit Group (TTPG) investigates nonimmigrant visa holders who violate their status, particularly those with suspected ties to terrorism. Meanwhile, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) Exploitation Section (SES) identifies immigration fraud at program schools that enroll foreign nationals.

“These sections work together and form an integrated national security force that draws upon government databases to gather and analyze leads on visitors to the United States,” reads ICE’s request for information (RFI) issued Tuesday.

Both sections use LeadTrac to track leads they’ve referred to ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) field offices for further investigation and enforcement.

Contract personnel are expected to use agile sustainment to modify the system to cope with changes in the LeadTrac platform and Amazon Web Services Cloud hosting environments, implement new user requirements, diagnose and fix errors possibly found by users, and increase software reliability to prevent future problems.

The job requires understanding the interfaces LeadTrac relies on for data, as well as those that rely on the app to provide reciprocal data. Personnel also need a knowledge of systems like SEVIS, which are critical to CTCEU’s workflow.

Contractor questions and requests for additional information are due Feb. 10. Submissions to the RFI are due Feb. 18.