The Department of Homeland Security has armed local police with mobile facial recognition technology that scans faces against 250 million government records and stores captured images for 15 years, according to a newly revealed federal document.
How the System Works
The ICE Task Force Module allows local officers to scan faces of people they stop in their communities, comparing them against State Department visa records and Transportation Security Administration databases. After scanning, the app instructs officers to either release the person or provides a reference code to obtain more information from ICE. The technology launched last September, suggesting hundreds of local police agencies may already be using it during routine patrols.
Approximately 1,300 police agencies participate in the federal 287(g) Task Force Model program, which gives local officers authority to arrest immigrants on ICE’s behalf during normal police duties. DHS declined to provide details about the app’s deployment or usage, stating only that ICE ensures partner agencies have necessary tools to support mass deportation operations.
Privacy Concerns and Accuracy Questions
Clare Garvie, deputy director of the Technology Law and Policy Program at New York University School of Law, says the document raises serious questions about when and how police can deploy the technology. The analysis does not clarify whether officers need reasonable suspicion before scanning faces or if they can photograph people freely as a surveillance dragnet to identify potentially unlawful residents.
Community members in Minnesota and Maine have already reported federal immigration officers photographing their faces and license plates, with officers demonstrating knowledge of personal information including names and addresses. Privacy experts warn that extending this capability to local police could suppress free speech if people fear repercussions for attending protests or legally observing ICE activity.
Technology Already Tracking Protesters
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin acknowledged at a congressional hearing this month that the agency has used facial recognition on protesters, successfully identifying people present at Oregon protests who also appeared at demonstrations outside the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark. Civil liberties advocates point to documented cases where facial recognition technology wrongly identified individuals, resulting in mistaken ICE detentions. The 15-year retention period for scanned photos creates a massive surveillance database tracking both citizens and immigrants.