CONNOR ECHOLS, [email protected]
Echols is a reporter for Responsible Statecraft and recently wrote the piece “Why Israeli counterterrorism tactics are showing up in Minnesota,” which states: “Over the past two decades, U.S. immigration officials have maintained a close relationship with the Israeli government. This collaboration has included trips ferrying high-level U.S. law enforcement officials around Israel, joint training for immigration officers, and technology transfers that have put sophisticated surveillance capabilities in the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The result has been an increasing mind meld between security agencies in Israel and the United States. …
“When Bill Ayub returned from his trip to Israel, he was impressed — but a bit wary. Israeli surveillance software is ‘a little more invasive than you would see here in the U.S.,’ the former Ventura County sheriff told Jewish Currents in 2022. And the use of force in arrests was ‘shocking,’ Ayub said. ‘It was like, “Wow, you do that?” […] We’d be in jail if we did something like that here.’
“Ayub is one of hundreds of senior American law enforcement officers who, over the last two decades, have toured Israel and met Israeli law enforcement officials with the help of non-profit organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). …
“These privately-funded trips are just one facet of the relationship. The Bush administration created ICE and CBP in 2003, when it restructured the federal government following the 9/11 attacks. The agencies, both of which are part of the Department of Homeland Security, became part of a government-wide effort to combat terrorism. ‘ICE has grown with the global war on terror,’ said Anthony Aguilar, a retired Army officer and activist. …
“ICE, for its part, has purchased sophisticated phone hacking technology from controversial Israeli companies like Cellebrite and Paragon. These tools have helped ICE build what critics call a surveillance ‘dragnet,’ gathering data on large portions of the American public, including citizens.”