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The agency that has regularly turned to deadly force needs a robot dog with a radio to de-escalate tense situations.

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UPDATE: ICE says it bought four robot dogs for $1.3 million in part for cross-border tunnel operations. It also says the robots will help tactical teams, listen for movement inside buildings, and look on top of closets and bunk beds.

ICE buys $1.3 million in robot dogs from Connecticut company

The agency bought the robots without seeking competing bids, and chose a version built to detect chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards.

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If you're a staff writer who needs to wait until a contract is public record to report on it, here you go. Robot dogs sold for $1.3 million to RADeCO of Connecticut, as we reported yesterday — now available on USA Spending. www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_A...

Promotional photo of the Boston Dynamics/RADeCO Cerberus Spot quadruped robot, better known as a "robot dog."

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We’re investigating fascism with the power of new wave on our side.

Person in mirrored sunglasses and a light blue jacket leans over a turntable, seen from a low angle, with one hand reaching toward the spinning record.

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The company that’s recruiting for ICE’s new $100 million domestic espionage contract would like to extend their best wishes for a mirthful equinox.

A screenshot of a LinkedIn post from Kiliuda Consulting. The post wishes their clients, partners, and teammates a happy autumn. It features a cheerful image of orange and yellow leaves with a quirky blue font that reads “Happy Autumn.”

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The Immigrant Legal Resource Center @the-ilrc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Happy to see the big outlets are finally starting to take ERO ONE seriously.

AI-generated illustration of ICE analysts at surveillance monitors under an Uncle Sam figure with binoculars, with red tracking boxes around a farmworker in a field and a family praying at their kitchen table.

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Reposted by Project Salt Box

“Federal immigration authorities on Friday asked contractors whether they could lease and install prefabricated detention units at about 50 enforcement offices across the continental U.S., saying arrests have outpaced the space those offices have to process and hold the people they detain.” 🔗

ICE seeks ‘modular’ detention units for 50 field offices, saying increased arrests have exceeded its space

A request for information seeks ready-made detention, interview and courtroom units, with no limits on how many people the units would hold or for how long.

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psb-foia/ice/FOIA Library Artifacts/ICE Mortality Reports at main · projectsaltbox/psb-foia

On Friday, ICE posted 33 detainee mortality reports to their online FOIA Library. Over the weekend, those reports were inexplicably deleted. We have archived them on our GitHub and are sharing them in hopes that the information is useful to journalists, researchers, and the general public.

github.com

FOIA requests and released records for Project Salt Box's reporting on ICE detention and federal contracting. - projectsaltbox/psb-foia

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One thing that just caught my eye: the PWS ICE posted didn't specifically mention any tools — and certainly, Palantir and Penlink don't appear anywhere in the document. Curious where Kiliuda got those requirements from.

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A federal contractor appears to be recruiting for ICE's planned ERO ONE contract. It is advertising intelligence analyst jobs in every city where ERO ONE would place its staff, although the ads do not name the agency. 🧵

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On Friday, ICE awarded a $1.3 million sole-source contract to RADeCO, an authorized reseller of Boston Dynamics' Spot robot dog. The upgraded version ICE purchased contains specialty tools for detecting chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear hazards.

ICE Buys $1.3 Million in Robot Dogs From Connecticut Company

The agency bought the robots without seeking competing bids, and chose a version built to detect chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards.

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 27/09/2026

ICE went forward with its plan to purchase $1.3 million worth of RADeCO Cereberus Spot robot dogs.

A screenshot of an award description, which says: "The purpose of this award is to procure Cerberus Spot quadruped robots and accessories for Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs."

A promotional photograph of a RADeCO tactical robot dog and its associated gear, including cameras, control mechanisms, and a tactical kit.

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We are super small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. But the number of times a larger publication has linked to SAM.gov or a report through our newsletter (psst, we can tell because you don't delete the UTM code) without crediting our reporting is way too high.

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 26/09/2026

Employees and executives of GEO Group, ICE's largest detention contractor, appear in the metadata of a growing number of DHS detention contract solicitations. The contracts are open to competition from other companies. Neither GEO nor DHS will say what role GEO played in preparing the documents.

A metadata readout for a five-page PDF titled "Performance Work Statement." The Company field reads "GEO Group Inc." and appears twice. The file was created on Sept. 25, 2026, at 1:44 p.m. Eastern using Acrobat PDFMaker 26 for Word. The Author and Creator fields are blurred.

A PDF open in a viewer, titled "Attachment 10c1 - Enhanced Transport Requirements Requirement C (Philadelphia)." The page is headed "Moshannon Enhanced Transportation." It lists requirements for ICE offices in Philadelphia, York and Pittsburgh. These include 24-hour detention, transport and guard coverage; additional "GTI" guard and transport assets; and at least three extra transport teams per day, seven days a week, to stage near arrest teams and act as a "mobile detention facility" until the vans are full. The Pittsburgh section says a hub site would free deportation officers to make more arrests. The metadata panel shows the file was created Dec. 11, 2025, with Acrobat PDFMaker 25 for Word. The author field contains the name of a GEO Group Executive Vice President.

A PDF open in a viewer, titled "Attachment 10c - Anticipated Transportation Routes Estimate Requirement C (Philadelphia)." The page is a table headed "Moshannon Incremental Mileage Estimate." It lists routes from Dover and the Pittsburgh Sub-Office to ICE offices, airports, federal prisons and about 20 county prisons, with miles per trip, vehicle type, trip frequency and total annual miles. The largest entry is Pittsburgh to Erie County Prison, five times a week, at 68,120 miles a year. The metadata panel shows the file was created Dec. 10, 2025, in Microsoft Excel. The author field contains the name of a GEO Group senior vice president.

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Reposted by Project Salt Box

Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

When Trump launched “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” without ICE facilities to accommodate it, inhumane overcrowding was inevitable. Judge Kaplan’s 9/24 ruling shows the results. Diagrams simulating a NYC holding cell in Aug 2025 look like slave ships. 1/5

Hold Room 1(820.78 sq. ft.)
With 87 people
(out of 193 people total)
Lying Down/Sitting
Diagram showing the largest tenth-floor hold room containing eighty-seven detainees in which each rectangle represents one lying-down detainee with the average height and shoulder width of an adult man and each circle represents one sitting-down detainee with the average shoulder width of an adult man. PX303, Ex. 1.

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 26/09/2026

ICE’s response to GAO is so ludicrous and can best be summed up as: “Thanks for noticing that we are ICE. We pinky promise to come up with a plan to do detention less wastefully by the end of next year.”

gao.gov

U.S. GAO - Immigration Detention: Urgent Planning Needed to Avoid Further Waste of Taxpayer Dollars

Since January 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has invested billions to expand detention capacity through six initiatives—including one...

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 26/09/2026

I would not be surprised if they have some AI agent responding to messages these days. We get some real bizarre ones.

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 25/09/2026

It's Friday — that means ICE just dropped a new horror.

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 25/09/2026

Had a few people ask what else is in the ERO ONE statement of work besides pattern-of-life analysis. So let's take a look at a few other descriptions of the kind of work ICE wants contract intel analysts to perform. 🧵

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 24/09/2026

Of all the things that give me pause about ICE's draft ERO ONE statement of work, a section titled "Network, Link, and Relationship Analysis" is the most eyebrow-raising. I spent close to 20 years as an intel analyst. Here's what section 4.6 says and means, paragraph by paragraph.

Cover page of the ERO ONE statement of work. The Department of Homeland Security seal sits in the center, under the heading "U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)." Below the seal, three lines read: "Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)," "Office of Enforcement and Removal (ERO)," and "ERO Overwatch and National Security Enforcement (ERO ONE)."

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 24/09/2026

Heads up, Baltimore: at least 8 unmarked vehicles matching makes/models used by ICE seen heading south on Bel Air Road.

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Reposted by Project Salt Box

CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective @crimethinc.com · 23/09/2026

Apply Heat, Melt ICE: A Guide to Resisting ICE around the Country this October crimethinc.com/MeltICE In this overview, we present calls to action to participate in or support mobilizations against ICE in Arizona, Minnesota, and Vermont, and reports from clashes in Austin, TX and Frederick, MD.

crimethinc.com

Apply Heat, Melt ICE: Flashpoints in the Fight

Three upcoming mobilizations against ICE and reports from two recent confrontations with federal mercenaries.

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🧵 We've been digging into the genesis of these 'mobile detention facilities' to find out whether the idea is new or has been in the works a while. So we went through the solicitation's attachments and their metadata. The file describing them lists a GEO Group executive vice president as its author.

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NPR @npr.org · 23/09/2026

The kind of stuff you find poring through detention trade magazines.

Art for an article in "Corrections Today" magazine depicting a hand made of fire over a hand made of ice, with a stylized flame font spelling out "THROUGH THE FIRE, LESSONS FROM LEADING A COMPLEX JAIL."

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Reposted by Project Salt Box

Buried in the paperwork for Immigration and Customs Enforcement's expansion in Pennsylvania is a document requesting "mobile detention facilities." n.pr/3VK3Jam

n.pr

ICE is looking into 'mobile detention facilities'

Buried in the paperwork for Immigration and Customs Enforcement's expansion in Pennsylvania is a document requesting "mobile detention facilities."

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UPDATE: ICE paid each of the six companies the contract's "guaranteed minimum" of $10,000 on Tuesday afternoon. Like earnest money in a real estate transaction, it is a small payment that shows the buyer is committed to the terms of the contract.

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And what did CoreCivic do after selling two private prisons to ICE this summer for a combined $1.2 billion? A stock buyback, of course. ir.corecivic.com/news-release...

Screenshot of a CoreCivic press release describing a $500 million stock buyback.

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U.S. Border Patrol plans to spend up to $50 million on contractor support for its headquarters intelligence division, according to a new Department of Homeland Security forecast. The five-year contract would cover open-source intelligence work and pilots of new technology.

Screenshot of a Department of Homeland Security Acquisition Planning Forecast System record, number F2026073592, published Sept. 22, 2026. The component is U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Border Patrol. The requirement is titled "USBP INTEL OSINT and SCG Technology Support Services." The description calls for contractor support to the Border Patrol Headquarters Intelligence Division for program management, administrative support, open-source intelligence capability planning and sustainment, and Strategic Collaboration Group technology pilot planning, assessment, training and transition. The estimated value is $20 million to $50 million. The contract is a new, competed, firm-fixed-price requirement through the GSA Schedule, set aside for small business, with work in Washington, D.C. The award is expected in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, and the contract runs through Sept. 28, 2031. The record also lists government points of contact.

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 22/09/2026

To all the CoreCivic and GEO Group execs who subscribed to PSB this week — welcome! We hope you find our reporting helpful. If you’d like to chat on or off the record, you can reach me on Signal at mwriston.410.

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Should have called it “American Intelligence” to keep in line with his preferred nomenclature.

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Reposted by Project Salt Box

Em Knepp @em-knepp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

James Grossmann, the owner of Rudiarius, is listed in the so-called Infrastructure Analysis for the Social Circle, Georgia, warehouse. Rudiarius also played a role in the NEPA assessments for several other warehouse projects.

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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 22/09/2026

NEW: The firm that brokered ICE's warehouse purchases is part of a joint venture that won a $655M contract to build at seven "Mega Hub DC" sites, from Honolulu to Guantánamo Bay. Its partner is tied to a Boston developer whose name appears on ICE's property deals.