Wyden, Espaillat and Colleagues Demand DHS IG Investigate Warrantless Location-Data Purchases by ICE

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On March 3, 2026, a letter led by Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Adriano Espaillat asked DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari to open a second investigation into warrantless purchases of Americans’ location data by ICE and other DHS components. The letter is dated March 3, 2026. The Register published its report on 3 Mar 2026.

The Register counted a group of 70 lawmakers. The signed PDF has more signature blocks than that; the count is in the linked research note.

The letter says the September 28, 2023 DHS OIG report found that CBP, ICE and the Secret Service violated federal law. The letter says the OIG recommendation for a DHS-wide commercial-data policy remains open, that ICE cancelled a briefing set for February 10, 2026 one day before, and that ICE is stonewalling congressional oversight into its purchase of location data.

The tool the letter points to is Webloc, sold by Penlink. Citizen Lab published its report on Webloc on April 9, 2026, after the letter, and says Webloc gives access to records from up to 500 million mobile devices.

Sources & Citations

[1] Letter from Sen. Wyden, Rep. Espaillat and other members of Congress to DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari (8 pp., as posted by The Register) — Members of Congress (copy hosted by The Register) · Mar 3, 2026 Tier 1

[2] Espaillat, Wyden Lead Nearly 70 Democrats to Call for Investigation of ICE, DHS Warrantless Purchases of Americans' Location Data — Office of Rep. Adriano Espaillat · Mar 3, 2026 Tier 1

[3] ICE surveillance, data brokers and Congress — NPR · Mar 3, 2026 Tier 1

[4] Uncovering Webloc: An Analysis of Penlink's Ad-based Geolocation Surveillance Tech — The Citizen Lab, University of Toronto · Apr 9, 2026 Tier 1

[5] US lawmakers press ICE over data purchases — The Register · Mar 3, 2026 Tier 2

Tiers Tier 1 court records & gov docs · Tier 2 established outlets · Tier 3 regional & specialty press · Tier 4 opinion or single-source. Methodology →

Cite this entry

The Cascade Ledger. “Wyden, Espaillat and Colleagues Demand DHS IG Investigate Warrantless Location-Data Purchases by ICE.” The Capture Cascade Timeline, March 3, 2026. https://capturecascade.org/event/2026-03-03--72-lawmakers-demand-dhs-oig-probe-warrantless-location-purchases/