Massachusetts Companies Profit from ICE Contracts

As federal procurement spending scales to historic heights, companies across Massachusetts are positioning themselves to capture lucrative deals with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to an investigation published by The Boston Globe.

The influx of capital touches sectors ranging from biometric identification and specialized heavy-duty vehicles to routine telecommunications. It mirrors the massive defense contracting windfalls seen during past federal conflicts, drawing both corporate suppliers eager for profit and sharp opposition from local activists and advocacy networks.

Biometric Scanners and No-Bid Federal Deals

Plymouth-based BI2 Technologies secured the largest single contract with ICE in the state, landing a $25 million agreement signed in May. The deal is five times the size of the company’s prior agreements with the agency and covers a mobile application that allows federal agents to scan eyes and run facial recognition checks.

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The contract also grants ICE access to a database containing 5 million booking records alongside searchable state driver license and license plate datasets. Prior to expanding its federal footprint, BI2 focused primarily on local law enforcement contracts, eventually donating iris scanners to sheriff’s departments across 31 counties along the US-Mexico border during Donald Trump’s first term.

When Trump returned to office, BI2 hired Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm founded by Brian Ballard, who maintains ties to Trump’s inner circle. Federal lobbying disclosures show BI2 spent $330,000 to promote its technology to the Department of Homeland Security and congressional leaders on Capitol Hill. That lobbying push culminated in a no-bid contract, with ICE procurement documents stating its operational needs could be met exclusively by proprietary solutions offered by the company.

Hanscom Field

Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for Government Procurement Law Studies at George Washington University, tracks multibillion-dollar DHS spending.

The requirements are drafted in a way that’s so narrow that only one company can actually meet their criteria or perform it. While they don’t explicitly signal wrongdoing, they do raise questions about transparency in a process that was once meant to be apolitical.

A DHS spokesperson stated that contract decisions undergo reviews to ensure adopted technology aligns with applicable law enforcement policies and standards. The agency declined to comment on how its agents specifically utilize the iris-scanning technology, noting generally that such tools assist in arresting criminal gang members, child sex offenders, murderers, and drug dealers while respecting privacy interests. BI2 executives did not respond to interview requests from The Boston Globe.

Armored Vehicles and Corporate Shareholder Logic

Other regional firms have sustained long-standing commercial relationships with federal law enforcement. Pittsfield-based Lenco Industries, a veteran manufacturer of armored tactical vehicles, first sold a BearCat—a steel-plated truck equipped with ballistic glass designed to withstand assault rifle fire and grenades—to the Department of Homeland Security in 2008, according to data tracked by USASpending.gov.

These Companies Have The Biggest ICE Contracts As DHS Funding Under Fire

Lenco has secured four contracts with ICE during Trump’s second term totaling approximately $5.2 million, including a $400,000 vehicle designated for a special response team in Kansas City. Last September, ICE posted a notice of intent for an $8.3 million sole-source BearCat purchase before ultimately turning to a Canadian supplier for 20 armored units. Federal agents operating a Lenco vehicle were photographed driving directly through demonstrators during a protest outside an immigrant processing and detention center in 2025.

Lenco vehicles now frequently appear in promotional materials and operational deployments in neighborhoods nationwide, often depicting agents riding atop the trucks brandishing automatic weapons. Lenco representatives and DHS officials declined to answer inquiries from The Boston Globe regarding the total volume of vehicles sold or their tactical deployment methods.

These Companies—Palantir, AT&T, Deloitte—Have The Biggest ICE Contracts As DHS Funding Under Fire

While public backlash against ICE enforcement methods grows, it has done little to disrupt supply chains. Clark Warner, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business specializing in organizational ethics, pointed to standard corporate motivations.

They are still attempting to maximize shareholder profit. It doesn’t occur to them that their profit could be damaged by a backlash because they are working with a highly politicized agency. Maybe they should.

Telecom Firm Provides Services Under Federal Program

Not every participating firm actively promotes its ties to federal immigration enforcement. Granite Telecommunications, based in Quincy and led by billionaire philanthropist Hale, holds the state’s third-largest active ICE contract, valued at $9 million.

Signed in 2022 during the Biden administration, Granite’s contract runs through July 2027 and provides basic telecommunications services such as landline phones and security alarm systems for federal office buildings. The agreement falls under the heavily regulated Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions program, through which the telecom firm holds more than 400 contracts with various government agencies. Granite declined to comment on the arrangement.

At the same time, specialized robotics manufacturing has drawn internal dissent and public demonstrations. Waltham-based Boston Dynamics does not appear directly on top ICE vendor registries, but federal immigration agents have acquired four of its quadrupedal, dog-like robots.

The acquisition occurred through a $1.3 million deal in which Connecticut-based Radeco modified the Boston Dynamics units with military-grade additions, including a robotic arm, thermal cameras, and explosive-material sensors.

A Boston Dynamics spokesperson stated that the robots are intended to maintain safety and that DHS remains bound by company terms and conditions prohibiting weaponization, harm, or intimidation. However, the deal sparked pushback internally. In September, a petition signed by hundreds of Boston Dynamics employees asked executives to terminate the arrangement.

We cannot be proud of working at BD when that work is being used by a government agency that brutalizes civilians.

A company spokesperson noted that nearly half of the signatures were submitted anonymously and that the protesting workers represent a minority of the firm’s roughly 1,500 employees. In a note to staff reviewed by The Boston Globe, then-interim chief executive Amanda McMaster urged employees to accept the decision regardless of personal disagreement.

Public demonstrations have mirrored internal friction. Barbara Katzenberg, a 76-year-old organizer with the De-ICE Action Network Now, organized rallies outside Boston Dynamics headquarters where protesters wearing canine masks waved critical signs. Katzenberg criticized the company for trusting ICE to adhere to ethical standards. Earlier, a separate campaign by the De-ICE group successfully pressured Rhode Island-based Citizens Bank to scale back its financial dealings with private prison operators contracting with ICE.

National Scale and the Post-9/11 Contracting Parallel

While Massachusetts suppliers represent a visible slice of the federal spending increase, national figures dwarf local outlays. Private airline broker CSI Aviation, based in Texas, has collected $1.3 billion in obligated funds from ICE since 2025 to facilitate deportation flights, according to federal spending records.

Those flights frequently utilize Hanscom Field in Massachusetts, prompting Governor Maura Healey to urge private carriers earlier this year to halt operations supporting deportations. In a March letter addressed to Signature Aviation Chief Executive Tony Lefebvre, Healey wrote that operators face a choice between profiting from tactics that deprive individuals of due process and standing with local communities. The governor’s office has not extended similar public scrutiny to local technology and manufacturing vendors.

Charles Tiefer, professor emeritus at the University of Baltimore Law School and a former government-appointed commissioner investigating wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, draws direct parallels between current DHS spending and past military logistics windfalls.

DHS has such a surplus of money and no accountability for it. It’s just eager to spend.

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