ICE’s forced face scans to verify citizens is unconstitutional, lawmakers say

Recent social media footage has highlighted the controversial practice of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents utilizing facial recognition technology to confirm citizenship status on the streets of the United States. A video, shared by a Chicago-based Instagram account, features a teenager who identifies as a US citizen informing officers that he does not possess a government-issued ID. When he offers to present his student ID instead, one officer inquires if facial recognition can be employed. The other officer proceeds to use an application to scan the teenager's face, while the first officer instructs him to 'relax' and suggests that many parents mislead their children about their citizenship status. The video concludes with the officer capturing the minor's photo and requesting him to confirm that his name aligns with the information retrieved from the app's database. The identity of the specific application used remains unclear. However, 404 Media has been scrutinizing the growing reliance on facial recognition by ICE and CBP, especially during the Trump administration's aggressive deportation efforts, which critics argue disproportionately target racial minorities. Earlier this year, 404 Media uncovered leaked communications revealing that ICE employs a tool called Mobile Fortify. This application enables agents to access an extensive range of government databases and compare facial matches against a repository containing over 200 million images. With a single photograph, the app can reveal personal details such as the individual's name, date of birth, and immigration status, including any deportation orders. In a letter sent in September, Senator Bernie Sanders and seven Democratic colleagues urged ICE to halt its use of Mobile Fortify along with other biometric technologies, citing concerns about inherent biases and inaccuracies, particularly affecting communities of color. The senators emphasized that these technologies have been shown to exacerbate racial profiling and highlighted a case where ICE mistakenly detained a US citizen for 30 hours based on erroneous biometric data. They concluded that the deployment of facial recognition by ICE is 'unacceptable' and must be discontinued.