The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who are carrying out Donald Trump’s bigoted anti-immigrant crackdown may soon have access to previously banned spy tools that foreign governments have used to target journalists and political dissidents.
The Trump administration this week reactivated a contract with Paragon Solutions, a spyware company that had its federal contract put on hold last year due to restrictions the Biden administration imposed on the use of commercial spyware that had a record of being deployed in repressive ways abroad.
A federal procurement form, posted via journalist Jack Poulson’s All-Source Intelligence newsletter this week, shows the Trump administration’s instructions to “lift the stop work order” on a $2 million contract with Paragon. Paragon’s technology allows users to surveil targets through various methods, like hacking encrypted message platforms or turning targets’ phones into listening devices. Earlier this year, officials in Italy’s right-wing government decided to sever ties with the company after reports that its tools had been used to target journalists and pro-immigrant advocates — two groups that Trump and his administration have attacked in a number of ways.
As The Washington Post notes:
Although it has held itself out as a more ethical version of NSO Group, the U.S.-banned maker of Pegasus phone spyware, Paragon drew criticism this year after traces of its powerful Graphite tool were found on the devices of Italian journalists, advocates for migrants, and associates of Pope Francis. During a government inquiry that followed, Italian officials acknowledged responsibility for some but not all of the breaches. Paragon then said it had stopped working with Italian government agencies.
Earlier this year, Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon over allegations the latter had targeted dozens of WhatsApp users, including journalists. The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto also compiled a report on the numerous controversies surrounding Paragon, which you can read here.








