Cops in 1,300 Jurisdictions Can Now Scan Your Face Into an ICE Database — Including American Citizens

Local police officers in jurisdictions participating in the federal 287(g) Task Force Model program have access to a mobile application called the ICE Task Force Module that allows them to scan the face of anyone they stop and run it against a government database containing more than 250 million records, NPR reported Friday based on Department of Homeland Security documents. The app is currently in use across approximately 1,300 law enforcement agencies nationwide. A DHS Privacy Threshold Analysis, first reported by the technology outlet 404 Media, shows that photos taken using the app can be of “someone other than a removable individual, including U.S. citizens,” and that every image is retained in government databases for 15 years regardless of the immigration status of the person photographed [1].

A separate DHS planning document, first reported June 18, outlines the department’s plans to expand access to the facial recognition technology beyond agencies already enrolled in the 287(g) program. DHS declined to provide additional details about how the app is currently used in the field but stated that ICE is committed to ensuring local police partners have “the tools needed to support ICE’s mass deportation mission.” Civil liberties organizations warned that the system amounts to a de facto mass biometric surveillance infrastructure operating at the local level, extending far beyond the scope of any individual immigration enforcement action [2].

Why It Sucks:

Immigration Enforcement Supporters / Conservatives

• Sanctuary cities simply won’t participate. The 287(g) program is opt-in, meaning the facial recognition app is available only to agencies that have signed cooperation agreements with ICE. The most immigrant-dense cities in America — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago — have refused to participate, leaving the enforcement tool functionally absent in the jurisdictions where it would have the greatest impact [1, 2].
• Litigation will freeze the program before it scales. Civil liberties organizations have already signaled Fourth Amendment lawsuits against expanded use of the app. Conservatives who want efficient immigration enforcement face a system where every court injunction and legal challenge delays a congressionally funded tool and delays removals [1].
• Fifteen-year data retention creates liability for participating agencies. Police departments using the app now hold biometric records on potentially thousands of U.S. citizens who were never charged with any offense. That stored data creates civil lawsuit exposure for agencies under state privacy laws, and it can be repurposed by future administrations for entirely different purposes [1].

Civil Liberties Advocates / Progressives

• U.S. citizens are being filed in an ICE database without notice. DHS’s own documents confirm the app captures and retains biometric data on people who are not immigration enforcement targets — including American citizens who simply crossed paths with a participating officer. There is no opt-out, no notification requirement, and no clear legal authority for maintaining a 15-year biometric record on citizens who committed no offense [1, 2].
• Facial recognition is less accurate for people of color. Independent audits of federal facial recognition systems have consistently found higher error rates when identifying Black, Hispanic, and Asian faces. Deploying a technology with documented racial accuracy disparities specifically for immigration enforcement in communities of color dramatically increases the risk of wrongful stops, wrongful arrests, and wrongful deportations [1].
• This converts local police into a federal surveillance arm. The 287(g) program has long been criticized for eroding trust between immigrant communities and local departments that depend on those communities to report crimes. Equipping participating officers with real-time facial recognition dramatically deepens that dynamic, chilling cooperation with law enforcement across entire neighborhoods [2].

Local Police Departments / Law Enforcement Leadership

• Chiefs are caught in an impossible political vise. Local police leaders in major cities face simultaneous pressure from progressive mayors and city councils to reject 287(g) participation and pressure from the federal government to assist with immigration enforcement. The facial recognition expansion deepens that contradiction with a tool that cannot be used quietly [1, 2].
• Officers bear personal legal exposure from a federal tool. If an officer uses the ICE Task Force Module to detain someone who turns out to be a U.S. citizen and a court later rules the stop unlawful, that officer and their department face civil liability under state law. Using a federal enforcement tool without clear legal parameters does not insulate local agencies from state-level civil rights lawsuits [1].
• DHS released a tool without releasing its rules. Deploying facial recognition to 1,300 departments requires standardized training on error rates, appropriate use scenarios, and legal constraints. DHS declined to share training protocols or usage guidelines with reporters, leaving individual agencies to determine on their own when and how to deploy a system capable of running matches against a quarter-billion government records [1, 2].

Sources & Citations:

[1] NPR: Some local police have access to an ICE facial recognition app
[2] NPR: DHS document shares plan to give local police departments facial recognition tech