ICE says it bought Paragon’s spyware to use in drug trafficking cases

The acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told lawmakers that it has bought and used spyware made by Paragon Solutions in drug trafficking cases, according to a letter seen by TechCrunch.

ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons wrote in the letter to three congresspeople that he approved the agency’s criminal investigative unit Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to use “cutting-edge technological tools” to counter “foreign terrorist organizations’ thriving exploitation of encrypted communication platforms,” in a reference to spyware. 

Law enforcement’s inability to access encrypted data has often been cited as a justification for their need to use computer and cellphone spyware for major criminal cases, as it can grab a person’s data directly from their device. Critics and human rights defenders have long pointed to the growing list of journalists, politicians, and members of civil society whose phones have been hacked by governments using commercial spyware.

In the letter, Lyons said ICE’s use of spyware would “comply with constitutional requirements,” and that he “certified that HSI’s operational use of the specific tool does not pose significant security or counterintelligence risks, or significant risks of improper use by a foreign government or foreign person.”

Bloomberg first reported ICE’s letter to lawmakers.

In 2024, ICE signed a contract with U.S.-Israeli spyware maker Paragon Solutions, a deal that was promptly suspended by the Biden administration to ascertain whether it complied with an executive order that restricts U.S. agencies from using spyware that could be used to target Americans abroad or violate human rights.

In September 2025, ICE lifted the block and reactivated the contract. Until now, however, it wasn’t clear if ICE had planned to use Paragon’s spyware.

The spyware maker has been ensnared in a wide-ranging scandal in Italy, where journalists and pro-immigration activists were revealed to have been targeted with Paragon’s spyware Graphite last year. In response, Paragon cut off Italy’s intelligence agencies from using its spyware tools.

When reached for comment, Democrat Rep. Summer Lee, one of the lawmakers who had requested information from ICE, told TechCrunch that the agency is now moving forward “with invasive spyware technology inside the United States. 

The lawmaker added, “instead of answering the serious constitutional and civil rights concerns that we raised, DHS is asking the public to accept vague assurances and fear-based justifications.”

“The people most at risk, including immigrants, Black and brown communities, journalists, organizers, and anyone speaking out against government abuse, deserve more than secrecy and deflection from an agency with a long record of overreach and abuse,” said Lee.

Paragon and ICE did not respond to a request for comment and questions from TechCrunch about the agency’s use of spyware.