ICE invests in new phone-tracking vans, however you have received instruments, too!

[ad_1] <img class="e_Ug" decoding="async" loading="eager" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="mobile-telephone-antennas-tower" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower-675w-380h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower-1000w-563h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower-840w-472h.jpg 840w" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mobile-telephone-antennas-tower.jpg"/> TL;DR

Earlier this 12 months ICE ordered new autos outfitted with smartphone-tracking {hardware}. Cell-tower simulating “Stingray” gadgets collect information on telephones of their neighborhood. Fortunately, Android 16 contains new measure for detecting when you might be monitored on this vogue.

Issues are dangerous within the US proper now, with the present administration deploying all of the methods in its bag in opposition to its perceived political enemies — and meaning an enormous crackdown on anybody showing even remotely “international.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has discovered itself main this effort, with sweeping raids focusing on weak communities, all too typically leaving divided households and heartbreak in its wake.

We’ve already appeared on the function smartphones have been taking part in on this saga, with strikes by Google and Apple alike that seem to assist the federal government’s efforts and take away entry to apps designed to guard folks from ICE harassment. And now we’re turning our consideration to a different instrument within the company’s arsenal, as we be taught of its newest acquisition of phone-tracking autos.

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<img class="e_Ug" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="9.375rem" title="google preferred source badge light@2x" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png 676w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x-64w-20h.png 64w" alt="google preferred source badge light@2x" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png"/><img class="e_Ug" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="9.375rem" title="google preferred source badge dark@2x" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png 676w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x-64w-20h.png 64w" alt="google preferred source badge dark@2x" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png"/> TechCrunch factors to Federal Procurement Information System information that present ICE spending over $800,000 earlier this 12 months on “Cell Web site Simulator (CSS) Autos.” That’s a barely extra innocuous-sounding technique to check with the {hardware} we colloquially know as a “Stingray” or IMSI (Worldwide Cell Subscriber Id) catcher. It’s mainly a faux cell tower that goes round shouting “How do you do, cell telephones, I'm a completely common mobile tower and you need to attempt connecting to me” with all of the subtlety of an undercover Steve Buscemi.

That successfully permits the Stringray to create a document of all of the mobile gadgets in its neighborhood. An company like ICE would possibly use this type of tech for the whole lot from monitoring attendance at protests to trying to find particular person customers by monitoring down their telephones.

The excellent news is that instruments exist to assist shield you from {hardware} like this. We’ve seen efforts to construct DIY {hardware} able to detecting the presence of Stingrays, just like the EFF’s Rayhunter mission. Customers who've already up to date their telephones to Android 16 may even faucet into some system-level safety with the brand new “Community notifications” possibility — simply be sure you toggle that one on, because it’s not enabled by default.

None of that is something new for ICE, which has been using Stingray-like gadgets in its operations for years. However because the company equips itself with increasingly more methods to watch People, these of us more likely to be focused ought to equally be searching for out the most recent information about these efforts and the choices that exist to guard our most weak family and friends.