Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis, both stalwarts of the legal research sector, are revealed to have extensive involvement in supporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through data services that have come under intense scrutiny. These platforms, commonly used by legal professionals for research purposes, have been pivotal in enabling a wide-reaching immigration surveillance apparatus—a fact that many within the legal sector may find concerning.
From 2003 to 2021, entities associated with Thomson Reuters received contracts valued at over $161 million from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with RELX subsidiaries, the parent company of LexisNexis, accruing over $172 million in contracts between 2005 and 2024. A significant part of this funding went into developing tools such as CLEAR and Accurint that aggregate enormous datasets on U.S. residents.
The tools in question, particularly CLEAR and Accurint, provide investigative services that pull from a vast array of data sources, enabling ICE to conduct extensive domestic surveillance without the consent of the individuals being monitored. CLEAR compiles data from sources such as driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations, social media, and more. Similarly, Accurint draws from varied data channels, effectively extending the reach of law enforcement into personal information databases.
As reported by In These Times, CLEAR’s integration with systems like Palantir allows ICE to conduct automated analysis, a concerning development that signifies increased automation in immigration enforcement activities (source).
The contracts facilitating these data exchanges—such as Thomson Reuters’ LEIDS-5 and Jail Alert Service and LexisNexis’ LEIDS—all amount to approximately $51.6 million, representing a fraction of the total $333 million spent since 2003 as part of DHS’s broader engagement with data brokers. These arrangements have raised significant legal and ethical questions, particularly around potential Fourth Amendment violations, as federal agencies bypass traditional judicial oversight mechanisms by purchasing commercial data directly.
The contracts and the technology enabling them are not merely business ventures; they speak to a larger trend of surveillance capitalism that has profound implications for privacy and civil liberties. This has sparked opposition not only from employees and shareholders but also from the broader legal community concerned about the dual role of these platforms in legal research and immigration enforcement.
The intricate relationship between legal technology firms and governmental agencies like ICE challenges ethical boundaries and regulatory norms. As government scrutiny and public awareness increase, particularly as Thomson Reuters’ $22.8 million ICE contract approaches its expiration in 2026, the future of these collaborations remains uncertain. This ongoing development highlights the role that data and technology firms play in shaping law enforcement strategies across borders.
This article forms the first part of a two-part series diving into the ties between legal tech giants and immigration enforcement in the U.S., with a detailed exploration of the challenges and questions these relationships pose to the legal industry.