ICE Turns to Private Contractor Accused of Torture to Track Migrant Children in Expanded Enforcement Push

A private security contractor accused in federal court of "torture," "enforced disappearance," and "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" has been hired by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help locate undocumented migrant children who arrived in the United States alone, according to a contracting document reported by The Guardian.

ICE awarded the contract to MVM Inc., a longtime federal contractor that has provided detention and transport services to immigration agencies and previously worked with the CIA. The company is now set to assist with what ICE calls "safety and wellness checks" on unaccompanied children released from government custody while their immigration cases proceed.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The Guardian that "MVM contractors have ZERO immigration enforcement authority" and said the initiative is focused on checking that children are safe, enrolled in school and not being abused, trafficked or exploited.

But immigrant-rights advocates say the program may function as an enforcement tool. Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, told The Guardian the effort appears designed to "find either kids or their sponsors to arrest and deport" or to "scare children into self-deporting." He called it "backdoor family separation."

The contract follows DHS's November launch of the UAC Safety Verification Initiative, which the agency said was created to protect 450,000 unaccompanied children it says were "illegally smuggled over the border and placed with unvetted sponsors" under the Biden administration. DHS said the program works with state and local law enforcement partners and has located more than 24,400 children through visits and door knocks.

MVM's previous immigration work has drawn scrutiny. In 2018, Reveal reported that the company detained immigrant children inside a vacant Phoenix office building with dark windows, no kitchen and limited bathroom facilities during the Trump administration's family separation policy. MVM said at the time the site was a temporary holding place, not a shelter.

In 2020, The New York Times also reported that ICE used hotels overseen by MVM to detain migrant children and families under pandemic-era expulsion policies. The report found that children were held outside the formal detention system, where some safeguards governing federal custody did not clearly apply.

The new contract expands ICE's efforts to track unaccompanied minors after release from custody, while renewing questions over whether welfare checks are being used to support deportation efforts against children or their sponsors.