Democrat senator pushing for answers from ICE about use of spy software

Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is pushing for answers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the purchase of commercial spyware that can reportedly take control of phones secretly and collect personal data from messages to photographs and location information. 

According to CBS News, Peters said the software represents "one of the most significant expansions of DHS and ICE's surveillance ambitions to date."

ICE spent about $2 million on the sole-source purchase of Graphite, which is considered a spying tool.

In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, Peters pointed to reports that the spyware had been used against journalists and members of civil society overseas. 

Peters wants to know why ICE needs the software.