Immigration agents have been given access to a facial recognition app to identify people in the field, according to leaked emails.
The emails, exchanged between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) staff and contractors, allow officers to instantly compare biometrics like faces and fingerprints against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases, according to 404 Media.
Newsweek contacted the DHS for comment.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Why It Matters
The emails say that the biometric tool is best used “to identify unknown subjects in the field,” which, along with the contributions from staff at Enforcement and Removal Operations, suggests that it is being used in the Trump administration’s attempts to ramp up the removal of migrants without legal status.
President Donald Trump vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants as part of a hardline mass deportation policy. ICE has been facing intense scrutiny over its conduct, becoming a focal point in the national immigration debate. The White House has maintained that anyone residing in the United States illegally is a “criminal.”
What To Know
In the emails, the app was referred to as “Mobile Fortify” and was recommended for use “in the field” to agents and contractors working with Enforcement and Removal Operations.
“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,” one email read.
“Officers are reminded that the fingerprint matching is currently the most accurate biometric indicator available in the application.”
One former ICE agent, who requested anonymity because of concerns about potential repercussions, told Newsweek that ICE has always used such technology, which he said uses non-public databases.
“We used [the] EDDIE app, which is fingerprint-based but would generate images,” the former agent said. “This technology have been around for 15 or more years. It’s just not fingerprints anymore. Photos can now be used. It pulls from our internal databases.”
The messages also indicated that ICE personnel had been given training in how to use the tool, with specific reference to officers learning how to capture facial images and fingerprints in a “training non-live environment.”
This is not the first time that the DHS has embraced new technology to crack down on immigration.
In November, before the Trump administration entered the White House, AI-powered camera software was rolled out along the southern border, with the aim of spotting human traffickers, drug smugglers and migrants in distress in the gaps between Border Patrol stations.
ICE agents have used the EDDIE app, which helps officers quickly fingerprint detainees and access databases in the field. It replaced bulky equipment that once took an hour to process data. Rolled out in 2015, the app allows fingerprints and photos to be taken and uploaded in about 30 seconds.
What People Are Saying
Attorney Andrew Fels told Newsweek: “We know that ICE and DHS and its various new contractors have a suite of privacy secrecy tools that are evolving and are sophisticated.”
What Happens Next
The DHS has not confirmed how the app is being used. ICE agents continue to follow orders from the Trump administration on detaining and deporting illegal immigrants across the country.
