United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are now deploying advanced technology to identify undocumented migrants on city streets.
The tech site 404 Media reported Wednesday that agents are using facial recognition technology on cell phones to scan the faces of random people.
In one case, ICE agents surrounded a driver stopped in Chicago, and when the driver refused to show ID, an Enforcement and Removal Operations agent seized his phone and scanned his face for identification.
“I’m an American citizen, so leave me alone,” the driver protested. Officers replied, “Alright, we just got to verify that. If you could take your hat off, it would be a lot quicker. I’m going to run your information.”
404 Media reviewed several videos and posts showing CBP and ICE conducting random stops and using biometric technology, sometimes without clear justification "beyond the color of someone’s skin."
The site also investigated ICE’s use of the Mobile Fortify app to tap into a database of 200 million images. The app queries an unprecedented number of government databases to return the subject’s name, date of birth, alien number, and any deportation orders.
Jeramie Scott, senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Surveillance Oversight Program, called the ICE revelations alarming: “Facial recognition is a powerful and dangerous surveillance technology,” Scott told 404 Media. “Using such an app further takes away control from the people and gives it to the government. Its use should not be taken lightly.”
Scott added, “ICE’s deployment of facial recognition on whoever they deem suspicious is pure dystopian creep—the continual expansion of surveillance until our reality mirrors dystopian science fiction. Law enforcement’s use of surveillance technology must be strictly regulated. Without limits, our democracy becomes unrecognizable.”