Trump channels Xi's China surveillance playbook as ICE deploys facial recognition app to identify people
The Trump administration is extending its surveillance powers within the US quietly, arming
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) officers with a new mobile app that can scan fingerprints or faces on the street to identify individuals by just pointing a smartphone camera at them, as per a report.
US Surveillance on the Streets
As per ICE's internal emails obtained by 404 Media revealed that the app, named 'Mobile Fortify', is already being used by ICE for the facial recognition component of the app for people entering or exiting the United States, but now that system is being used inside the US by ICE to identify people in the field, as reported by 404 Media.
What Is Mobile Fortify?
One of the emails, which was sent to all Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), mentioned that, 'The Mobile Fortify App empowers users with real-time
biometric identity verification
capabilities utilizing contactless fingerprints and facial images captured by the camera on an ICE issued cell phone without a secondary collection device,' as quoted in the report.
According to the 404 Media report, the main purpose of ICE is to use this new tool to identify people whose identity ICE officers do not know. The email pointed out that, 'This information can be used to identify unknown subjects in the field,' adding, 'Officers are reminded that the fingerprint matching is currently the most accurate biometric indicator available in the application,' as quoted in the report.
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A Digital Way to Deportation
The use of the Mobile Fortify app is one of the latest examples of ICE, which comes amid the Trump administration's increasing use of high-end technology for its mass deportation efforts and ICE's enforcement of its arrest quotas of 3,000 arrests per day, as reported by 404 Media.
The 404 Media reported, citing an internal ICE data seen by NBC News, which said that the Trump administration has arrested only 6% of known immigrant murderers. While ICE has continued to detain nonviolent, working members of immigrant communities who have lived in the country for decades, especially in Los Angeles, as reported by 404 Media.
Civil Liberties Concerns
Meanwhile, civil liberties proponents have constantly feared and critiqued the biometric systems, as per the report. The deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, Nathan Freed Wessler, highlighted that, 'Face recognition technology is notoriously unreliable, frequently generating false matches and resulting in a number of known wrongful arrests across the country. Immigration agents relying on this technology to try to identify people on the street is a recipe for disaster. Congress has never authorized DHS to use face recognition technology in this way, and the agency should shut this dangerous experiment down,' as quoted in the report.
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FAQs
What exactly is Mobile Fortify?
It's a mobile app that lets ICE officers use facial recognition and fingerprint scans with just their phone's camera to identify people in real time, as per the 404 Media report.
Do ICE officers need extra equipment to use it?
No. The app works directly on ICE-issued smartphones, no fingerprint readers or extra devices are needed.
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