DHS tech error halted ICE wiretaps for months, endangering investigations
A change to the internet provider used by Homeland Security Investigations stopped ICE from deploying wiretaps for several months, a flaw traced to the Department of Homeland Security under Kristi Noem.
A recently uncovered government filing reveals that a routine switch of the internet provider for Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative branch of ICE, unintentionally broke the agency's wiretap capability. The disruption started in April of the previous year and lasted for months, preventing ICE from using electronic surveillance to pursue suspected offenders. The Department of Homeland Security, led by Kristi Noem, has labeled the mishap "catastrophic" and warned that full recovery could take years.
Experts say the loss of wiretap access hampered ongoing criminal investigations and posed a public-safety risk. The incident underscores how a single technical change can have far-reaching consequences for law-enforcement operations.
Why it matters
The failure stopped ICE from using wiretaps, weakening its ability to investigate and prevent crime.
How this story developed
- Aug 13 San Antonio immigrants live in constant fear as ICE arrests surge
- Oct 10 Protests spread to Manhattan and lower Manhattan, drawing thousands of demonstrators.
- Oct 10 An off‑duty ICE agent was shot after allegedly assaulting a homeowner and his father in Fresno.
- Oct 11 During a targeted ICE operation in Harris County, a deported Mexican illegal alien fled, causing a foot chase that led to a vehicle striking another undocumented man, who was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
- Oct 12 Homeland Security Investigations agents raided Rep. Ilhan Omar’s residence in Washington, D.C., early Monday as part of a DOJ-led fraud investigation into her immigration filings.
- Oct 12 Federal agents executed a pre‑dawn search of Omar’s D.C. home.
- Oct 14 Democracy Defenders Fund submitted a Hatch Act complaint alleging the raid violated election‑interference rules.
- Oct 14 Subpoenas were served on several of Omar’s relatives.
- Oct 15 Federal investigators have taken Rep. Ilhan Omar's phone and issued more than a dozen grand-jury subpoenas, including to family members, as part of a criminal inquiry into her immigration paperwork.
- Oct 15 Federal agents seized Omar’s phone and issued subpoenas to her relatives.
- Oct 16 Rep. Delia Ramirez introduced legislation to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security.
- Oct 17 House Majority Whip Tom Emmer called for Omar’s jail and deportation if the fraud investigation is substantiated.
- Oct 18 Barack Obama posted on X condemning the investigation as retaliation for Omar’s criticism of the administration.
- Oct 19 District Attorney Sean Teare is assembling evidence for a possible grand‑jury hearing.
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