A mobile app used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to monitor certain migrants is collecting large amounts of sensitive data with uncertain protections regarding how that data is being used and stored, according to public records obtained by the Just Futures Law legal project.

Faced with large numbers of migrants arriving in the United States, ICE has in recent years moved toward monitoring migrants in the United States rather than detaining them. In doing so, the agency is increasingly relying on contractors to build the technology it relies on, creating a growing surveillance apparatus operated by ICE to monitor migrant communities.

One such contractor is BI Inc., which operates a cellphone app known as SmartLINK on the agency’s behalf. According to records obtained (PDF) by Just Futures and shared with CyberScoop, SmartLINK collects a trove of sensitive information, including personally identifying information, geolocation data, phone numbers of contacts, and vehicle and driver data. BI also collects biometric and health data including facial images, voice prints, medical information, pregnancy and births.

ICE, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, has maintained a contract since 2004 with BI, a subsidiary of the private prison company Geo Group, to provide GPS ankle monitors and to run its Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, a program to monitor certain migrants. ICE describes ISAP as “an alternative to detention,” and the SmartLINK app allows for real-time communications between supervisory agents and program participants, including video check-in calls, messaging and other automated location data collection.