ICE Discloses to Lawmakers It Purchased Spyware to Hack Phones in Fentanyl Fight

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has told lawmakers it purchased commercial spyware capable of hacking mobile phones and accessing encrypted communications, deploying the technology as part of its efforts to disrupt fentanyl trafficking into the United States, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The disclosure marks a significant acknowledgment of spyware use within a domestic law enforcement context. ICE's admission puts it alongside the FBI, which has previously acknowledged purchasing NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, though the FBI said it obtained the tool for research and testing rather than active operations. Commercial spyware of the kind ICE described is typically sold with the ability to silently penetrate smartphones, extract messages from end-to-end encrypted applications including Signal and WhatsApp, access location data, activate cameras and microphones, and copy files -- all without the target's knowledge. The fentanyl framing positions the disclosure as law enforcement necessity. The synthetic opioid, which is trafficked primarily through networks with Chinese chemical precursor supply chains and Mexican cartel distribution, has driven overdose deaths to record levels in recent years. Intelligence gathered through encrypted communications is presented as operationally critical. Civil liberties advocates and privacy researchers have long warned that government acquisition of commercial spyware creates infrastructure that is vulnerable to abuse, scope expansion, and eventual targeting of journalists, activists, and political opponents -- a pattern documented repeatedly in other countries. The disclosure to lawmakers comes amid renewed congressional scrutiny of domestic spyware use following multiple reports about foreign governments misusing similar tools. Bloomberg reported ICE's acknowledgment on April 1, 2026.