Federal immigration authorities plan to use an intel center based in Williston to expand surveillance of social media for immigration enforcement.
For years, Williston has been home to the National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center, where staffers dig up data to help immigration agents around the country find, detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
Federal contracting documents posted last week and first reported by WIRED show that the center is looking to add at least a dozen analysts to scour social media posts and other online data to “enhance ICE’s mission and program efficiency.”
Though the plan is in its early stages, the proposal gives some insight into the ways President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown will be facilitated by an expansion of web and social media surveillance right in Burlington’s backyard.
Situated in a Williston business park near the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, the center is the national hub for a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division that generates intelligence for immigration enforcement agents from “a wide variety of sources,” federal documents show.
In fiscal year 2023, the center investigated referrals of 4.6 million individuals. Staffers rapidly convert those investigations into dossiers to be shared with ICE field offices around the country.
According to the planning documents posted last week, ICE has had “limited success” in finding individuals without the use of open web sources and social media. The new Vermont-based analysts would be expected to search platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram for information that could be used to aid ICE’s expanding enforcement efforts. Their work would continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
For the highest-priority cases, such as those who pose a national security threat or have been convicted of serious crimes, analysts would be expected to process and provide intelligence within a matter of hours. But the contractor would be expected to collect data on anyone who meets “ICE enforcement priorities,” the documents show.
In some cases, analysts would also be expected to investigate a person’s family members, friends or coworkers as a means of locating the “target” of the operation.
The plan is still in its early stages. Records indicate that ICE is seeking to hear from private vendors interested in providing this type of intelligence. A timeline lists May 2026 as a possible start date.
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