Apr 20, 2019, 08:00am

Facebook's Privacy Seems To Be Traveling Away

Joe Gray

Cybersecurity

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joegray/2019/04/20/facebooks-privacy-seems-to-be-traveling-away/#6e0b5b7b230c

Regarding Facebook, there is no shortage of controversy or concerns facing their users. Whether it be a privacy breach from data misuse, Instagram passwords being compromised or the Cambridge Analytica data collection activities. Facebook has had its share of media attention from excessive permissions or not being upfront about new Terms of Service agreements.

Fast forward and it is brought to my attention that Facebook was advertising "Traveling Friends" to users of the mobile app. I stopped using the mobile app a few months ago after researching the permissions and data collection practices in favor of using a mobile browser that does not allow the same data collection. So I decided to reinstall the app on iOS (Apple iPhone) to see if I could recreate the condition. I searched for "Traveling Friends" and found some pages that appeared to be attempting to convince users that it was legitimate. I decided to try to find it via the "Nearby Friends" feature. There it is.

To be completely transparent, I also had to enable location services and to be able to see all "Traveling Friends," I had to give the app permission to always collect location information. I would not normally enable such a feature out of an abundance of caution. I understand that by having a Facebook account, one cannot attain full anonymity or privacy just as it is impossible to attain even if one avoids social media altogether. From my experience in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), I have found that it is easier to manage one's online presence by having accounts and exercising sound techniques in access controls, app permissions and the data input into the social media platform.

Regarding the vulnerability feature that is being discussed here, when navigating to "Nearby Friends" via the iOS mobile app, I was prompted to change the location services setting. Once that is changed, I was able to see that 4 of my friends were traveling. I searched the Facebook Newsroom for an announcement on the vulnerability feature, which I was unsuccessful in finding anything. I noted where the 4 friends live and where they were listed. As observed in the screenshot below, all 4 people are 100 more miles away and presumably have location services turned on and set to "always."

I blurred out the listed distance because that could be used to compromise my precise location. One friend is from my hometown and was in a nearby big city 150 miles away. I reached out to another friend and they were 100 miles away with their lover. I looked up the locations of the other two friends and they were one and three states away from "home" respectively. So, it appears as if a user has nearby friends turned on and is more than 100 miles from the location listed as home on their profile, then they will show up. I have some upcoming travel so I will test in a controlled manner on the trip.

Regarding the privacy implications, this is something that could affect many people's operations security (OPSEC) if enabled with location services. In an abuse case scenario, this could implicate an employee who falsely claims to be sick while actually on a recreational trip (if they are Facebook friends with any colleagues). Alternatively, this could give up locations of law enforcement or military when conducting operations outside 100 miles. This also gives unscrupulous people who are on a user's friends list the information that would assist them in knowing no one is home and that it may be easier to rob that home.

To protect oneself and your location, I recommend not enabling location services at all. If you do not have a necessity to use the application or have an interest in enhanced security, do not even use the mobile app, log in via a web browser. If you have a reason to enable location services, change the app's setting to "only when using the app." If possible, enable location services via the phone (not the app) only when using them. This will prevent any changes to the default configuration during app updates. Using social media can be fun, rewarding or exciting but if misused or used without all the information, it can be quite the opposite.

Family detention space goes unused as Trump warns of crisis

Posted: 7:25 AM, Apr 20, 2019

Updated: 22 minutes ago

https://www.kxxv.com/news/national/family-detention-space-goes-unused-as-trump-warns-of-crisis

"WACO, Texas (AP)" — President Donald Trump has warned that Central American families are staging an "invasion" at the U.S.-Mexico border. He has threatened to take migrants to Democratic strongholds to punish political opponents. And his administration regularly complains about having to "catch and release" migrants.

At the same time, his administration has stopped using one of three family detention centers to hold parents and children and left almost 2,000 beds unused at the other two. It says it does not have the resources to transport migrants to the centers.

Immigrant advocates accuse the administration of closing off family detention to further the perception of a crisis.

The Karnes County Residential Center in Texas used to hold up to 800 parents and children at a time, who would usually be detained before an initial screening to judge whether they qualified for asylum.

But ICE last month started to release families until they were all gone from Karnes. Advocates who work there say ICE is now restricting legal access to the roughly 400 adult women being detained there.

The population at the family detention center in nearby Dilley, Texas, was also reduced and remains at roughly a quarter of its 2,400-person capacity. A 96-person facility in Pennsylvania had only 18 immigrants this week.

Meanwhile, the numbers of parents and children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border have surged, leading immigration officials to declare the situation a crisis. More than 50,000 parents and children were apprehended by the Border Patrol in March, setting a monthly record.

The number of border crossings in one day sometimes exceeds ICE's total family detention space.

More than 4,800 people crossed the border in a single day this week. Almost 1,000 were traveling in three large groups, the largest of which was 375 people, Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, said Wednesday.

The Border Patrol has stopped referring many families to ICE and instead releases them directly to nonprofit groups or drops them off at bus stations.

In a statement, ICE said the surge left it "overwhelmed" and unable to transport families from the border to the Karnes and Dilley facilities, even if both detention centers had available beds. As of Wednesday, 427 women were in custody at Karnes.

"As such, ICE has determined that, at this time, Karnes will better meet operational needs by also serving partially as an adult detention facility," the agency said.

Immigrant advocates say they do not believe that ICE cannot transport people to the facilities. They say the government has reduced family detention space for political reasons - to show that Democrats' refusal to change laws to allow for longer family detention and more deportations has left officials with no choice but to catch and release.

"We believe that this is part of trying to justify a narrative," said Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. "Trump's policies have swung from one extreme to the other. There's no consistency; there's no strategic planning."

The legal services group RAICES goes to Karnes daily to consult with detained immigrants about their asylum cases. The group says subtle policy changes at the facility have reduced legal access for detained women seeking asylum.

Since Monday, authorities at Karnes have prevented attorneys and volunteers from meeting with many large groups of migrants at once, which prevents them from quickly consulting with more people, according to Andrea Meza, RAICES' director of family detention services.

Karnes staff also stopped sending RAICES the names of detainees who put their names on sign-up sheets outside the visitation room, Meza said.

Meza said she received conflicting explanations from ICE for the changes, including that there were complaints by staff from the private contractor GEO Group, which operates Karnes.

ICE confirmed it had reduced group meetings at Karnes because "more residents are represented by private attorneys." The agency said it provided 12 hours of legal visitation at Karnes every day, more than its detention standards require.

If the changes remain in place, fewer people will be able to consult with a lawyer before asylum interviews, Meza said, and it will be harder for the group to follow up with potential asylum seekers.

"We don't know what's happening to people after their interviews," she said.

CBP finds more than $1 million of meth and fentanyl at California checkpoint

by Diana Stancy Correll

| April 19, 2019 01:01 PM

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cbp-finds-more-than-1-million-of-meth-and-fentanyl-at-california-checkpoint

Drugs with an estimated street value of more than $1 million were found at a California immigration checkpoint, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced.

Authorities said Thursday they found the drugs when a 24-year-old man from Mexico approached the El Centro Sector checkpoint on Highway 86 in a Nissan Versa. The man, who presented a valid border crossing card, was referred to a secondary inspection to evaluate his documents and vehicle.

Agents uncovered 33 packages hidden in a floorboard in the car — including eight packages of fentanyl, with an estimated street value of $997,680. Twenty-five other packages contained methamphetamine.

“Stopping this narcotics trafficking event represents a significant seizure and undoubtedly softened the blow to our communities that the opioid crisis is causing,” David Kim, assistant chief patrol agent, said in a statement Thursday. “Our agents deserve all the credit for the hard work and dedication they display everyday to keep our communities safe.”

Customs and Border Protection estimates that the drugs were worth $1,066,941.

The drugs, the vehicle, and the man have all been handed over to authorities at the Drug Enforcement Administration for additional investigation.

Customs and Border Protection also announced this week they uncovered $6 million worth of methamphetamine at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge's cargo facility that connects to Texas earlier this month. The drugs were found in a commercial shipment of melons.

Immigration

Contract for tent facility in El Paso is awarded to New York company

By:

Aaron Bracamontes

Posted: Apr 19, 2019 01:58 PM MST

https://www.ktsm.com/immigration/contract-for-tent-facility-in-el-paso-is-awarded-to-new-york-company/1939445828

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) - A $36.9 million contract to build a tent facility in El Paso was awarded to a New York company.

Deployed Resources LLC of Rome, N.Y. was selected on Thursday to build the "soft-sided temporary facilities" in El Paso and Donna, Texas.

The contract is for four months and has four one-month options, a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

“The humanitarian and border security crisis on our Southwest border has stretched our resources and processing facilities to the breaking point,” said John P. Sanders, the senior official performing the duties of Commissioner, in the release. “These temporary facilities will support our efforts to process, care for and transfer the unprecedented number of families and unaccompanied children crossing the border illegally each day.”

The tents should be operational by May 1 and the construction will be overseen by CBP’s Office of Facilities and Asset Management.

Each tent will be able to hold up to 500 people while they wait to be transferred to ICE or Department of Health and Human Services custody.

The tents will be waterproof and have areas for eating, sleeping, recreation and hygiene. They will provide "shower trailers, chemical toilets and sinks, laundry trailers, sleeping mats, kitchen equipment, personal property storage boxes, office space, interior and perimeter closed-circuit television, lockers, security, power and HVAC services."

House Republicans leave border tour shocked to learn immigrant children being recycled by smugglers

by Anna Giaritelli

| April 19, 2019 08:54 PM

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-republicans-leave-border-tour-shocked-to-learn-immigrant-children-being-recycled-by-smugglers

YUMA, Ariz. — Congressional Republicans who toured part of the southern border this week saw first-hand the number of families and children arriving.

But the House lawmakers were shocked at the idea that smugglers recycle children across the border.

“I think the entire delegation was shocked,” said Luke Ball, press secretary for Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

The Washington Examiner was riding along with Reps. John Joyce of Pennsylvania, Pete Stauber of Minnesota, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Gaetz Tuesday night when officials leading the tour pointed to a group of more than 40 people who had just crossed through the Colorado River south of the Morelos Dam and surrendered to Border Patrol agents less than a quarter-mile into the U.S.

“Right now, they’re getting their biographical information: name, first name, last name, date of birth, nationality. Right now, they may ask them where they’re going — how many people, if it was a family unit, were they by themselves, were they minors?” an agent, who spoke on background, told the group of lawmakers.

“Every one has a kid, at least one. Every one has a kid,” one congressman reacted at the scene.

A Border Patrol agent speaking to lawmakers said agents in the Yuma sector, which has seen the third-highest family apprehensions of all nine sectors this year, said some children are being sent back to Central America after making it to the U.S. The agent said children are being “rented out.”

“They know that’s their ticket in,” one lawmaker said.

The group saw another 35 people taken into custody during a ride-along Wednesday.

“They just walked up and surrendered themselves. They did not try to run. They did not try to get away because what we learned last night … is that if they come in as a family unit, they will be released probably less than two days, and they’re not allowed to hold them for a certain period of time, so essentially they are presenting themselves at the border and saying they are a family unit,” Ball said.

Joyce wrote in an email that the adults used children as "fast passes to permanent entry."

A Border Patrol agent on the tour said the agency has begun documenting and referring for prosecution individuals who recycle children who traveled from Central America to the U.S. then were sent back to Central America or Mexico so that an unrelated adult could take them on that same journey and claim them as his or her child.

Doing so allows a person who has illegally crossed into the U.S. to apply for asylum and not be held in custody more than 20 days due to a 2015 court ruling that mandates families not be held more than that amount of time.

Because agents do not take fingerprints or other biometric information from children 14 years old or younger, they cannot verify if a child being taken into custody is arriving for the first time or is related to the adult bringing them, the agent said.

Justin Kallinger, spokesman for the Yuma sector, said 99% of all migrants they take into custody paid thousands to be smuggled to the U.S. and did not travel as part of a caravan. Kallinger said because adults being smuggled want to avoid deportation and prosecution, they are relying on a “new advantageous technique” by recycling children.

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“They can utilize loopholes in the immigration law. These children don’t know. They take these one month trips — traversing through horrible, horrible conditions multiple times,” said Kallinger. “Certain children are being recycled, 4-, 8-, 10-year-old children. They come with false documents from adults.”

Data provided by Border Patrol’s Yuma sector indicates only a small percent of families arriving in Yuma are committing fraud.

Of the nearly 25,000 people arrested in Yuma in the past six months who claimed to be part of a family unit, nearly 600 were not related to one another and 100 of those cases were referred for prosecution, according to sector data provided Friday.

“We have prosecuted as many as we can. We run into issues with evidence, intent, time in custody once it is found to be a fraudulent family unit are just a few of the barriers we face right now,” Kallinger said in a follow-up email.

Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., confirmed the "recycling" of children to reporters during a press conference in Yuma Wednesday.

"This is a humanitarian crisis. Incentivizing individuals to then send a child on this dangerous journey and then send them back again and have them take the journey again, that is traumatizing this children," McSally said. "One of the challenges I understand we’re looking more into it is the collection of those biographical and photograph and biometric information of the younger individuals unless they have consent."

Joyce said he will return to Washington after the Easter recess and focus on changes to asylum policy. Ball, Gaetz's spokesman, agreed with that approach.

“I think that right now we have a gap where folks are able to come over because there's no physical barrier. There are changes needed in the law,” said Ball. “But we first have to plug the dyke.”

Otero County declares a state of emergency

By Associated Press

Published: Friday, April 19th, 2019 at 10:52am

Updated: Friday, April 19th, 2019 at 10:19pm

https://www.abqjournal.com/1304833/county-declares-state-of-emergency-regarding-immigration.html

ALAMOGORDO – A southern New Mexico county has demanded that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham use the National Guard to re-open Customs and Border Patrol checkpoints that were closed last month.

Otero County on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, noting the need for open checkpoints to stop drugs and illegal activity at the border, the Alamogordo Daily News reported.

Checkpoints in the area shut down last month, as agents were pulled to help process an influx of migrants claiming asylum at the border.

Otero County Commission Chairman Couy Griffin said if the county’s demand is not met in one week’s time, it will provide its own security for the checkpoints. Griffin also threatened taking legal action against the state.

“Otero County will also consider litigation in regards to the State of New Mexico failing to follow its constitutional duties towards the people of Otero County,” he said.

Governor’s office spokesman Tripp Stelnicki said the National Guard “does not and would not operate federal checkpoints.”

“If Otero County officials are unhappy that a federal checkpoint has been un-manned, so to speak, their concerns would have the best chance of being addressed if registered with the federal agency that made the decision to shift that personnel elsewhere,” Stelnicki said.

“At the same time, Otero County is absolutely free to reach out to the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for whatever assistance they feel they need, which as of today had not occurred,” he said.

The permanent highway checkpoints are part of the Border Patrol’s immigration and smuggling enforcement system in the border region.

Grisham announced in February that she withdrew the 118 remaining National Guard troops from New Mexico’s border with Mexico, denying President Donald Trump’s contention that a crisis was ongoing at the border.

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More on This:

CBP unveils new details on Donna tent

Diana Eva Maldonado -

https://www.themonitor.com/2019/04/19/cbp-unveils-new-details-donna-tent/

April 19, 2019

U.S. Customs and Border Protection this week awarded a contract for the construction of a tent holding facility for families and unaccompanied minors at the Donna port of entry.

CBP awarded the $36.9 million contract Thursday to New York-based Deployed Resources LLC. According to a statement released by CBP Friday, the 500-person facility may be operational as soon as May 1 and will remain operational for at least four months.

The contract also allows the government to extend operations through the end of December via four distinct one-month extension options.

A second 500-person “soft-sided” tent facility will also be constructed in El Paso.

CBP officials say the temporary holding facilities are necessary due to an increasing influx of families and unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.

“The flow has changed dramatically and the facilities, resources and the legal authorities we have are not able to address the challenges we are seeing,” said Kevin A. McAleenan, acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security during a news conference along the border fence in Hidalgo on Wednesday.

The tent facilities are meant to serve as temporary holding facilities while the migrants await transfer to the custody of either U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Health and Human Services.

The tent facility will occupy just under 5 acres of land near the Donna port of entry. The compound will be surrounded by a 7-foot tall perimeter fence topped with 3 feet of barbed wire, according to a document detailing the project’s scope of work.

Inside the perimeter, the structure will contain separate areas for processing and holding migrants.

The holding area will include up to four sections able to house families, as well as unaccompanied children separated by gender. The size of each section will depend on how many families versus unaccompanied children are being held.

Each section will be open-concept, with a centrally-located wooden guard station raised 7 feet off the ground and capable of accommodating two guards, the document reads.

The tent will also contain a medical area equipped with privacy screens, a small refrigerator, benches and chemical toilets.

The holding portion of the facility will be equipped with 40 showers, 40 chemical toilets and 40 stacked washers and dryers. The kitchen will have four refrigerators and microwave ovens.

Each migrant will be afforded 60 square feet of personal space — a figure that includes the space required for bed mats, toilets, showers and even the space needed for “staff supervision space.”

The entire compound will be monitored by no fewer than 40 closed-circuit high definition cameras and patrolled by 14 unarmed guards per shift, along with CBP personnel.

Approximately 3,000-square-feet of fenced-in outdoor space will serve as an exercise area.

CBP has housed migrants in tent facilities before — in both 2014 and 2015.

Federal officials insisted Wednesday that the number of migrants currently crossing the border in search of asylum represent an unprecedented humanitarian and security “crisis.” However, according to data released by Border Patrol, the current influx is still well below previous years. For example, Border Patrol reported a total of 396,579 apprehensions last year, compared to 876,704 in 2007 and more than 1.5 million in 1999.