Some local police have access to an ICE facial recognition app
Local police deputized to act for Immigration and Customs Enforcement can use a facial recognition app to identify people, according to a Department of Homeland Security document reviewed by NPR . The officers fall under ICE’s 287(g) Task Force Model, which lets local police arrest immigrants during routine duties on ICE’s behalf; roughly 1,300 agencies take part nationwide. The app launched last September and appears to work much like Mobile Fortify, the facial recognition tool already used by ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers, though it is unclear whether it relies on the same underlying technology.
The significance is in the reach. Facial recognition tied to immigration enforcement moves from federal officers to thousands of local police, expanding where and by whom it can be deployed while public detail on accuracy, data sources and oversight remains thin. Clare Garvie of NYU’s Policing Project said the DHS analysis “raises more questions than I think it answers” — a reminder that the program’s scope is being disclosed piecemeal rather than through a clear public accounting.