Report Says DHS Would Use Private Investigators to Track Deportees Abroad and Collect Immigration Fines

The Department of Homeland Security is considering a program that would use private investigators to locate deported immigrants in their countries of origin, confirm where they live, and deliver notices seeking payment of U.S. immigration fines, according to a report cited by Zero Hedge and attributed to Wired.

Zero Hedge said the proposal would be budgeted at up to $9 million over two years and would rely on contractors described as “bounty hunters” for overseas tracking and notification. The reporting characterizes the work as verification of deportees’ addresses and coordination of notice delivery rather than enforcement activity on U.S. soil.

The plan, as described in the report, would cover deported individuals after they leave the United States, shifting parts of DHS’s post-removal compliance and debt-collection process toward offshore contracting. The practical effect would be to extend certain administrative collection steps beyond the U.S. border by using third parties to identify and reach individuals abroad.

According to the same reporting, the system would involve contractors conducting overseas tracking and confirming residence so DHS could deliver notices aimed at collecting payment of immigration fines. The report frames the notices as related to U.S. immigration fines rather than criminal penalties, but it does not indicate whether the underlying fine determinations would change or whether recipients would receive the same procedural protections as in other DHS administrative processes.

Because the proposal is described through secondary reporting, it is not clear from the available record whether DHS has formally published contract solicitations, issued policy guidance, or finalized legal authorities for any overseas tracking and service method. It also remains unclear whether the program would be conducted under existing debt-collection mechanisms, whether it would require additional contracting authority, or how DHS would ensure contractor conduct complies with privacy and due process requirements.

Homeland Security officials did not appear in the supplied materials to confirm or detail the proposal, and no official DHS document, procurement posting, or policy memo was provided in the record behind the report. DHS confirmation would be needed to establish the program’s legal basis, timeline, participating countries, contractor scope, and the specific notice and payment processes DHS expects to use.