DHS Document Details Plans to Give Local Police ICE Facial Recognition App

A Department of Homeland Security document outlines plans to issue local police a mobile app that scans faces and compares them to more than 250 million federal records. The app, called the ICE Task Force Module, returns either an instruction not to detain the person or a code for further ICE checks. Photos captured by the app are stored in a DHS system for 15 years.

How the App Works Local officers participating in the Task Force Model of the 287(g) program can use the app during routine duties. The app draws on State Department visa records and Transportation Security Administration traveler data. DHS said in a statement that ICE is committed to providing partner agencies the tools needed for its mass deportation mission.

The agency also stated its methods are constitutional and respect civil liberties.

Clare Garvie, deputy director of New York University School of Law's Policing Project, said the document raises more questions than it answers. She noted uncertainty about whether officers need prior suspicion before scanning faces. Patrick Eddington of the Cato Institute said scaling the technology could affect large numbers of people and individual rights.

Cooper Quintin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the expansion makes face surveillance more common on U.S. streets. The document acknowledges that scans could capture U.S. citizens. DHS has stated it does not maintain a database of protesters, though federal officers have collected photos during protest observations.