This little-known bill could hand your private data to ICE — and charge American taxpayers

CORCA (the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act), a bill quietly folded into this year's National Defense Authorization Act, would let DHS collect personal data from shoppers accused of theft and share it with ICE, effectively deputizing retailers like Home Depot as data collectors while creating a new ICE-linked "coordination center" to assist local law enforcement — powers civil liberties groups warn could fuel racial profiling and mass deportation efforts under vague "operationally necessary" language. The apparent contradiction of Democratic senators, including Klobuchar, Durbin, Gallego, Kelly, and Warner, co-sponsoring or supporting the bill despite having previously criticized ICE's tactics and even shut down DHS funding over them, while noting that the National Retail Federation and major chains lobbied heavily for the bill's inclusion, potentially shifting loss-prevention costs from retailers to taxpayers. With a Senate vote expected within two weeks, advocacy groups are urging Democrats to oppose the measure before it advances further.

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