A US-based vehicle manufacturer that provides all-terrain vehicles, utility task vehicles, and snowmobiles to US immigration authorities.
Polaris Inc., headquartered in Medina, Minn., manufactures land and sea vehicles for commercial and government use.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) uses Polaris ATVs and other vehicles to patrol rugged terrain along the U.S.–Mexico border, particularly in remote areas that are inaccessible to other vehicles. Between 2005 and 2021, CBP held at least 41 contracts with Polaris for RZR, Sportsman 550, and other all-terrain vehicles (ATVs); Ranger utility task vehicles (UTVs); tactical vehicles; and snowmobiles. Some of these contracts specify where this equipment has been sent. A 2014 contract, for example, shows that Polaris terrain vehicles were sent to CBP’s Tucson Sector in Arizona, which covers 262 miles of the U.S.–Mexico border. In addition to contracting directly with Polaris, CBP purchases the company’s vehicles from third-party providers. In 2022, for instance, the agency awarded North Carolina–based MacGyver Solutions an almost $900,000 contract for nearly 100 Sportsman 450 and 850 ATVs.
Local police departments that operate in cooperation with CBP and ICE also use Polaris vehicles to patrol areas near the U.S.–Mexico border. In 2021, for example, the Marfa Police Department in Texas requested state funding for a Polaris off-road vehicle in order to assist Border Patrol with Texas’s “border security plan.”
Between 2008 and 2018, Polaris also held eight contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the same ATVs and UTVs.