ICE uses a $125 million Thomson Reuters deal to access your credit card data without a warrant

Every time you apply for a credit card or update your account information, you're likely sharing more than you realize.

An investigation by 404 Media suggests that personal details collected by credit card companies can flow through a network of data brokers before ultimately becoming accessible to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency can then search and analyze your personal information without a warrant.

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"No one signing up for a credit card thinks they're giving data brokers a thumbs-up to sell their personal information to ICE," Senator Ron Wyden told 404 Media in a statement. "Not only is it an outrageous violation of our privacy, [but] it's impossible for Americans to opt out."

The private information you're giving away

404 Media found that when consumers open a credit card, or update their personal information, credit card companies share that data with credit bureaus. The personal data includes names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, addresses and email addresses. Unlike your credit report, this information does not have strong legal protections.

According to 404 Media, personal data is then sent to credit bureaus, who provide the data to Thomson Reuters. From there it is incorporated into CLEAR, the company's investigative data product. Thomson Reuters sells access to CLEAR to law enforcement agencies, including ICE.

By gaining access to CLEAR, ICE is then able to search through personal data without a warrant. The platform is also reportedly integrated with a tool ICE uses to determine which neighborhoods to raid, 404 Media reported.

"Anytime we update our home addresses on these accounts, credit bureaus get the updates within 24 hours and share it broadly with other data brokers, thanks to legal loopholes that leave our personal information open to misuse and abuse," Laura Rivera, an attorney at Just Futures Law told 404 Media.

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Thomson Reuters tapped to find 'voter fraud'

The latest report follows another 404 Media investigation published on July 17 that examined Thomson Reuters' expanding role in providing personal data to the U.S. government.