Democratic lawmakers have condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for using facial recognition technology on US streets to verify citizenship, calling it unconstitutional and prone to racial bias. Social media videos show officers scanning faces even when individuals present alternative IDs. Critics warn of privacy threats and wrongful detentions amid the Trump administration's deportation efforts.
Social media videos have revealed ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers patrolling US streets and employing facial recognition apps to check citizenship status. In one Chicago video posted on Instagram, a self-described US citizen teenager without government ID offers his student ID, but an officer asks, “can you do facial?” The officer instructs the teen to “relax” while noting that “a lot of parents” claim their children were born in the US, then scans his face and verifies the name against the app's database.
In a second video, a man asserts, “I’m an American citizen, so leave me alone,” after showing his ID, but agents insist on scanning, telling him to remove his hat as “it will be a lot quicker” and to “relax” despite his rush to work.
Bernie Sanders and seven Democratic senators, in a September letter to ICE acting director Todd Lyons, urged an end to tools like Mobile Fortify, which scans against 200 million images to retrieve names, dates of birth, alien numbers, and deportation orders. They highlighted biases, stating the technology “is often biased and inaccurate, especially for communities of color” and “proven to foster environments that increase racial profiling.” A 2024 National Institute of Standards and Technology test showed lower accuracy for low-quality, blurry, or poorly lit images—common in field scans.
The senators noted ICE's wrongful 30-hour detention of a US citizen based on faulty biometrics and demanded details on domestic use, testing, and policies for citizens. Lyons faced an October 2 response deadline, with compliance unclear. Even if accurate, the tools threaten “individual privacy and free speech,” they wrote.
Matthew Guariglia of the Electronic Frontier Foundation called it “dangerous, invasive, and an inherent threat to civil liberties,” adding that ICE's approach abandons any “precise” targeting pretense. House Homeland Security ranking member Bennie G. Thompson warned Mobile Fortify risks detention or deportation, as ICE may ignore citizenship proof if the app indicates otherwise, deeming it “unconstitutional.”
DHS declined to confirm methods, while CBP affirmed Mobile Fortify's use. Previously restricted after privacy audits, the technology now risks incorporating commercial data without clear safeguards, prompting calls for a required privacy impact assessment under the E-Government Act.