This article was co-authored by EFF research intern Andrew Zuker.
Every time government officials create fear about the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration, they also generate dollars.hundreds of millions of dollars– for technology conglomerates and start-ups.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today released the U.S. Homeland Border Security Technologies Dataset, a multi-layered dataset of vendors that provide or market technology for the U.S. government’s increasingly AI-driven homeland security efforts, including the so-called “virtual wall” of surveillance along the southern border with Mexico.
The four-part dataset includes a carefully curated directory that profiles more than 230 companies that manufacture, market, or sell technology products and services, including DNA testing, ground sensors, and counter-drone systems, to components of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) engaged in border security and immigration enforcement. The vendors on this list are either verified federal contract holders or have sought to do business with immigration/border authorities or local law enforcement along the border through activities such as advertising homeland security products on their websites and exhibiting at border security conferences.
It features companies that are often in the spotlight, including Elbit Systems And Anduril Industriesbut also lesser-known subcontractors, such as surveillance providers Will-Burt Company And ReferenceMany companies also supply the U.S. Department of Defense as part of the pipeline connecting battlefields to border areas.
The spreadsheet includes a separate list of 463 companies that registered for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I&C) Industry Day events and a list of 134 DHS members founded by Homeland Security Technology ConsortiumResearchers will also find an annual compilation of the top 100 contractors for DHS and its components dating back to 2006.
Download the dataset as an XLSX file via this link or access it as a Google Sheet (Google’s Privacy Policy applies).
Border security and surveillance is a growing industry, fueled by the potential of Congress’s massive budget appropriations and accelerated by the promise of artificial intelligence. Of the 233 companies included in our initial survey, two-thirds promoted artificial intelligence, machine learning, or autonomous technology in their public-facing materials.
An HDT Global vehicle at Border Security Expo 2024. Source: Dugan Meyer (CC0 1.0 Universal)
Federal spending on homeland security has increase year after year, creating a lucrative market that has attracted investment from major technology companies and venture capitalists. Last month, U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, defended a funding package that included a “record” $300 million in funding for border security technology, including “autonomous surveillance towers, mobile surveillance platforms, counter-tunnel equipment and a significant investment in counter-drone capability.”
This research project was made possible thanks to the support of the internship of Heinrich Böll Foundationin collaboration with EFF and the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Drew Mitnick of the Böll Foundation, which also helped create a similar dataset on European vendors, believes mapping the homeland security technology sector is essential to public debate. “We think the value of the project will be to better inform policymakers about the types of technologies being deployed, the impact on privacy, the companies that are leveraging the technology, and the nature of their relationships with the agencies that are leveraging the technology,” he said.
Information for this project was aggregated from a number of sources, including press releases, company profile databases, supplier websites, social media, marketing materials and flyers, agency websites, defense industry publications, and the work of journalists, advocates, and watchdog organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and student researchers who contribute to EFF. Atlas of SurveillanceFor our vendor profiles, we verified agency spending with each vendor using financial records available online through the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS.gov), And USAspending.gov websites.
While most of the companies included have multiple divisions and offer a range of goods and services, this project focuses specifically on vendors that supply and market technology, communications, and IT capabilities to DHS subagencies, including CBP, ICE, and Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS). We also included companies that sell to other agencies operating at the border, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration and state and local law enforcement agencies engaged in border surveillance.
The data is organized by vendor and includes information about the type of technology or services they offer, the vendor’s participation in specific federal border security initiatives, procurement records, the company’s website, parent companies and associated subsidiaries, the specific surveillance products offered, and the federal agencies they serve. Additional links and supporting documents have been included throughout the site. We have also provided links to scans of promotional materials distributed at border security conferences.
This dataset serves as a snapshot of the homeland security industry. While we aimed to be comprehensive, we found that the corporate landscape is murky, with acquisitions, mergers, holding companies, and subcontractors often intentionally obscuring the connections between the various companies competing for lucrative government contracts. We hope that by providing a multi-layered view, this data will serve as a definitive resource for journalists, academics, privacy and human rights advocates, and policymakers.
This work should serve as a starting point for deeper investigations—such as Freedom of Information Act requests and political influence analyses—into the companies and agencies that are rapidly developing and automating immigration surveillance and enforcement, whether the goal is to challenge political discourse or hold authorities and industry accountable.
If you use this data in your own research or have information that could further enrich the dataset, we would love to hear from you at aos@eff.org.
