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CBP sought private contractors to track down and photograph deported people's homes abroad to collect fines

On August 4, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted a solicitation seeking private contractors to locate and photograph the homes of people it has deported to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, so the government can pursue unpaid failure-to-depart fines that can reach $998 a day and up to $1.8 million per person. The program, capped at $9 million over two years, would have the government own all data investigators gather with unlimited reuse rights, and comes after CBP's three existing debt collectors reported finding no one located outside the U.S. as of July 2026. Sens. Dick Durbin and Alex Padilla have called the underlying fines "arbitrary and potentially unlawful" and say DHS did not respond to their July inquiry about the program.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On August 4, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted a solicitation seeking private contractors to locate and photograph the homes of people the government has deported to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, according to records reviewed by WIRED. The Tracing and Payment Recovery Services program, capped at $9 million over two years, would pay contractors to confirm each person's address using commercial data and physical observation, with photographs of the home accepted as evidence alongside records such as utility bills or employment files. Contractors would deliver a printed, bilingual flyer listing fines and fees CBP claims the person owes and would earn tiered bonuses for reporting back quickly; the government would own all data gathered, with unlimited rights to reuse it, and no part of the payment depends on money actually being recovered.

The fines stem from an obscure 1996 immigration-law provision assessing up to $998 a day against people who defy a removal order, a penalty CBP restarted in June 2025 after years of dormancy and applies retroactively for up to five years, producing individual debts as high as $1.8 million. CBP estimated in the solicitation that 66,387 removed people owe unpaid fines and penalties, and said its three existing private debt collectors had not located a single person outside the United States as of July 2026. Sens. Dick Durbin and Alex Padilla wrote to DHS and the acting attorney general in July asking how many fines had been assessed against people in lawful status or domestic-violence survivors and to stop applying the fines to immigrants complying with the law; Durbin's office says neither department responded by the requested July 31 deadline. CBP gave bidders until August 7, 2026 to submit quotes, citing a time-sensitive need.

Why we recorded this

Privacy from unchecked government data collection is a basic check on state power, and it depends on that collection serving a lawful, individualized purpose rather than a dragnet. CBP's program pays private contractors to locate and photograph the homes of people already outside U.S. jurisdiction, builds a government-owned data record with unlimited reuse rights, and does so to pursue civil fines two U.S. senators have called arbitrary and potentially unlawful. This archive records government-directed collection of deportees' location and personal data abroad because outsourcing surveillance-for-collection to private investigators, with payment owed regardless of whether any money is ever recovered, extends state reach beyond ordinary enforcement into a tool that can pressure and intimidate people who have already left the country.

Sources

  1. DHS Is Hiring Bounty Hunters to Find and Photograph Deported People's Homes Abroad — WIRED investigative accessed August 6, 2026
  2. U.S. Border Patrol wants a contractor to track down deported people abroad and collect their immigration fines — Project Salt Box investigative accessed August 6, 2026

See also