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us-gives-local-police-a-face-scanning-app-similar-to-one-used-by-ice-agents

US gives local police a face-scanning app similar to one used by ICE agents

cbp, ice, immigration, Policy / /

“Biometric data used to identify individuals through TVS are collected by government authorities consistent with the law, including [when] issuing documents or processing illegal aliens,” the CBP statement said. “The Mobile Fortify Application provides a mobile capability that uses facial comparison as well as fingerprint matching to verify the identity of individuals against specific immigration related holdings.”

404 Media quoted Cooper Quintin, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as saying that “face surveillance in general, and this tool specifically, was already a dangerous infringement of civil liberties when in the hands of ICE agents. Putting a powerful surveillance tool like this in the hands of state and local law enforcement officials around the country will only further erode peoples’ Fourth Amendment rights, for citizens and non-citizens alike. This will further erode due process, and subject even more Americans to omnipresent surveillance and unjust detainment.”

DHS proposes new biometrics rules, definition

In related news this week, the Department of Homeland Security is proposing rule changes to expand the collection and use of biometric information. The proposed changes are open for public comment until January 2, 2026.

“The purpose of this rule is to establish a standard and provide notice that every individual filing or associated with a benefit request, other request, or collection of information is subject to the biometrics requirement, unless DHS exempts a category of requests or individuals, or a specific individual,” the proposal said. “This includes any alien apprehended, arrested or encountered by DHS in the course of performing its functions related to administering and enforcing the immigration and naturalization laws of the United States. As it relates to benefit requests, other requests and collections of information, notice of this requirement will be added in the form instructions for the relevant forms, as needed.”

The proposed rule change would expand the agency’s definition of biometrics “to include a wider range of modalities than just fingerprints, photographs and signatures.” The proposed definition of biometrics is “measurable biological (anatomical, physiological or molecular structure) or behavioral characteristics of an individual.” This includes face and eye scans, vocal signatures, and DNA.

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

biometric data, customs and border protection, face scans, facial recognition, ice, Online Privacy, Policy / /

“A 2024 test by the National Institute of Standards and Technology found that facial recognition tools are less accurate when images are low quality, blurry, obscured, or taken from the side or in poor light—exactly the kind of images an ICE agent would likely capture when using a smartphone in the field,” their letter said.

If ICE’s use continues to expand, mistakes “will almost certainly proliferate,” senators said, and “even if ICE’s facial recognition tools were perfectly accurate, these technologies would still pose serious threats to individual privacy and free speech.”

Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told 404 Media that ICE’s growing use of facial recognition confirms that “we should have banned government use of face recognition when we had the chance because it is dangerous, invasive, and an inherent threat to civil liberties.” It also suggests that “any remaining pretense that ICE is harassing and surveilling people in any kind of ‘precise’ way should be left in the dust,” Guariglia said.

ICE scans faces, even if shown an ID

In their letter to ICE acting director Todd Lyons, senators sent a long list of questions to learn more about “ICE’s expanded use of biometric technology systems,” which senators suggested risked having “a sweeping and lasting impact on the public’s civil rights and liberties.” They demanded to know when ICE started using face scans in domestic deployments, as previously the technology was only known to be used at the border, and what testing was done to ensure apps like Mobile Fortify are accurate and unbiased.

Perhaps most relevant to 404 Media’s recent report, senators asked, “Does ICE have any policies, practices, or procedures around the use of the Mobile Fortify app to identify US citizens?” Lyons was supposed to respond by October 2, but Ars was not able to immediately confirm whether that deadline was met.

DHS declined “to confirm or deny law enforcement capabilities or methods” in response to 404 Media’s report, while CBP confirmed that Mobile Fortify is still being used by ICE, along with “a variety of technological capabilities” that supposedly “enhance the effectiveness of agents on the ground.”

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Trump admin pressured Facebook into removing ICE-tracking group

facebook, ice, Policy, trump administration / /

Attorney General Pam Bondi today said that Facebook removed an ICE-tracking group after “outreach” from the Department of Justice. “Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago,” Bondi wrote in an X post.

Bondi alleged that a “wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs.” She added that the DOJ “will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.”

When contacted by Ars, Facebook owner Meta said the group “was removed for violating our policies against coordinated harm.” Meta didn’t describe any specific violation but directed us to a policy against “coordinating harm and promoting crime,” which includes a prohibition against “outing the undercover status of law enforcement, military, or security personnel.”

The statement was sent by Francis Brennan, a former Trump campaign advisor who was hired by Meta in January.

The White House recently claimed there has been “a more than 1,000 percent increase in attacks on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers since January 21, 2025, compared to the same period last year.” Government officials haven’t offered proof of this claim, according to an NPR report that said “there is no public evidence that [attacks] have spiked as dramatically as the federal government has claimed.”

The Justice Department contacted Meta after Laura Loomer sought action against the “ICE Sighting-Chicagoland” group that had over 84,000 members on Facebook. “Fantastic news. DOJ source tells me they have seen my report and they have contacted Facebook and their executives at META to tell them they need to remove these ICE tracking pages from the platform,” Loomer wrote yesterday.

The ICE Sighting-Chicagoland group “has been increasingly used over the last five weeks of ‘Operation Midway Blitz,’ President Donald Trump’s intense deportation campaign, to warn neighbors that federal agents are near schools, grocery stores and other community staples so they can take steps to protect themselves,” the Chicago Sun-Times wrote today.

Trump slammed Biden for social media “censorship”

Trump and Republicans repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for pressuring social media companies into removing content. In a day-one executive order declaring an end to “federal censorship,” Trump said “the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve.”

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