— The Trump administration is hiring private contractors to locate deported migrants abroad and pursue roughly $423 million in unpaid fines and fees that U.S. Customs and Border Protection says are owed by more than 66,300 people, Bloomberg reports.CBP awarded contracts worth up to $36 million to four firms tasked with finding deportees in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Contractors may photograph homes and obtain utility bills, employment records, or court documents to establish individuals’ locations and ability to pay.
Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, ICE has issued more than $84 billion in civil immigration fines but had collected only $1.2 million as of July 16, 2026.
