Fact Check: “ICE Plans to Spend $180 Million on Bounty Hunters to Stalk Immigrants” (404 Media)

Article: “ICE Plans to Spend $180 Million on Bounty Hunters to Stalk Immigrants” — Joseph Cox, 404 Media[1]

Date: Nov. 12, 2025

1. What the Article Claims

From the visible portion of the story:[1]

• ICE plans to use bounty hunters / skip tracers / private investigators to locate undocumented immigrants.
• ICE is allocating up to $180 million for that work.
• These contractors will help verify people’s addresses and locations, potentially with physical surveillance.
• The story is based on federal procurement records, and references earlier reporting by The Intercept on ICE’s plans to use bounty hunters or skip tracers.[1][2]

2. Is ICE Using “Bounty Hunters” or Skip Tracers?

Multiple independent sources support the core idea:

• The Intercept reported that ICE is considering hiring private bounty hunters to locate immigrants, based on a procurement solicitation that:
  • Envisions “monetary bonuses” for performance.
  • Provides contractors with bundles of 10,000 people at a time, up to 1,000,000.[2]
• Juneau Independent summarizes that same solicitation, describing ICE’s plan to:
  • Hire private companies.
  • Pay performance-based financial incentives for locating immigrants.[3]
• Jacobin reports that ICE signed a “skip tracing services” contract with defense contractor SOS International (SOSi), explicitly linking it to bounty-hunter-style tracking for deportations.[4]

Conclusion:

The existence of a plan for ICE to use private contractors in a skip-tracing / bounty-hunter-like role is well-supported by independent reporting.

3. Important Distinction: Contractors vs. Public Tip-Line “Bounties”