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United States Privacy

You Can't Refuse To Be Scanned by ICE's Facial Recognition App, DHS Document Says (404media.co) 202

An anonymous reader shares a report: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not let people decline to be scanned by its new facial recognition app, which the agency uses to verify a person's identity and their immigration status, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document obtained by 404 Media. The document also says any face photos taken by the app, called Mobile Fortify, will be stored for 15 years, including those of U.S. citizens.

The document provides new details about the technology behind Mobile Fortify, how the data it collects is processed and stored, and DHS's rationale for using it. On Wednesday 404 Media reported that both ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are scanning peoples' faces in the streets to verify citizenship.

"ICE does not provide the opportunity for individuals to decline or consent to the collection and use of biometric data/photograph collection," the document, called a Privacy Threshold Analysis (PTA), says. A PTA is a document that DHS creates in the process of deploying new technology or updating existing capabilities. It is supposed to be used by DHS's internal privacy offices to determine and describe the privacy risks of a certain piece of tech. "CBP and ICE Privacy are jointly submitting this new mobile app PTA for the ICE Mobile Fortify Mobile App (Mobile Fortify app), a mobile application developed by CBP and made accessible to ICE agents and officers operating in the field," the document, dated February, reads. 404 Media obtained the document (which you can see here) via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with CBP.

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You Can't Refuse To Be Scanned by ICE's Facial Recognition App, DHS Document Says

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  • Who'd have thunk? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by medusa-v2 ( 3669719 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @11:13AM (#65764302)
    It's almost as if you can't systematically take away civil rights for some people without ultimately taking it away for all people. Seems a shame that having an entire constitution written around that basic premise wasn't enough to prevent this.
    • That constitution originally didn't give the vote to anyone but landed white males and today it says anyone convicted of a crime can be enslaved. It does not say what you think it says and it never did.

      • by RossCWilliams ( 5513152 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @02:56PM (#65764888)

        That constitution originally didn't give the vote to anyone but landed white males

        The US constitution didn't give the vote to anyone. Voting rights were determined by states and you are correct they mostly only gave the vote to free males often with a property requirement. But black males who met those qualifications were also eligible to vote in some states. In fact, some women with property were initially allowed to vote.

        today it says anyone convicted of a crime can be enslaved

        Not really. People convicted of a crime are not owned by anyone and neither are their offspring. They can be forced to work while in prison. On the other hand, at the time the constitution was adopted, apprentices were indentured to their "master" and could be forced to work. Runaway apprentices would be captured and returned to their master. The only real difference between an apprentice and a slave was that it was not a lifetime bondage and it wasn't inherited by their offspring. But that is a pretty significant difference.

        • There are different kinds of slavery. Owning someone and all subsequent offspring is chattel slavery. Indentured/involuntary servitude is also a type of slavery and while the 13th amendment abolishes both types it clearly makes an exception as punishment for a crime for which someone has been duly convicted.
          • And that exception for involuntary servitude has been abused to arrest people with the motive of having the use of their prison labor. Which is not the purpose for which it is allowed by the constitution.
  • An agency policy is NOT law by any means.
    If it were, we'd all be ####ed a million ways to doomsday.
    (ianal, but I don't have to be for something this obviously egregious.)
  • by Targon ( 17348 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @11:21AM (#65764334)

    ICE is basically violating a fundamental problem of violating the very idea of illegal search. There has to be probable cause to search, or to try to verify the identity of people, and race/ethnic group is not an acceptable reason to search someone. If anything, this is more "government overreach" and the push to allow ANYONE claiming to work for the government to be able to do whatever they want.

    I really am waiting for states and local governments to tell ICE that they are not welcome, and to arrest anyone from ICE who violates the rights of people within their area of control. If ICE were to come into my home without my permission, then the police should be required by law to arrest them for illegal entry into my home and charge them with breaking and entering. ICE must be held to the same standards as police officers, complete with the need for a warrant, probable cause, and if they use excessive force, possible arrest and prison time for those who are guilty.

    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @11:46AM (#65764418)
      Probably not given our current Court system. The ruling would be that you are in public and therefore they can do whatever they want. The only time it wouldn't apply is if you're on your property protected by a high fence.

      They're mostly pulling random people off the streets so they can do pretty much whatever they want as long as Trump is president.

      I don't think folks would realize this but every single institution designed to protect you has broken down. The last and final one was the voters and they decided cheap eggs and sticking it was more important than basic civil rights and a functional economy.

      To be fair we had a hell of a lot of voter suppression and a fuck ton of propaganda. I watched a couple dozen journalists get dog walked by corporate media for daring criticize King Trump. It was so bad we invented a new word. Sane washing
      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by RobinH ( 124750 )
        I have no doubt that some of what you say is grounded in fact and real, but as some random guy spouting conspiracy theories online, you have no credibility, and bring no evidence to the table. Who exactly is the audience you're intending to reach? Or is this just a therapy session for you?
    • I agree with you that it's patently illegal, but most likely ice will arrest decliners for 48 hours and not charge them with anything. It is a crime to not identify yourself to officers, but you're ONLY required to provide a name (or license if driving). They would not be able to get an obstruction charge to stick for facial scan. Just remember not to resist the arrest itself, and definitely don't fight back since then they can get you on resisting or battery leo. Just look down, close your eyes, anythi
      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        No, they'll just be tossed in with the rest of them.

        American *citizens*, you know, full blooded Americans - are getting arrested by ICE. It was even recently decided citizens may sue ICE for illegal detainment after one kept getting arrested and held for a week at a time at a detention facility.

        Even worse, ICE isn't following ID rules - the law requires all government workers have ID. Sure maybe they don't want to ID themselves, but they should be wearing ID numbers. It's why police have badge numbers they

    • There has to be probable cause to search, or to try to verify the identity of people

      Unfortunately, laws don't apply to the branch that controls the military because those laws can't be realistically enforced. The past 250 years have been great because our leaders largely acted in good faith, but human history shows us that that behavior is the exception, and the norm is closer to Game of Thrones.

      I really am waiting for states and local governments to tell ICE that they are not welcome, and to arrest anyon

  • Don't Tread On Me! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @11:31AM (#65764364)

    Anyone driving around with the Gadsden flag on your truck or perhaps being flown in your yard, please speak up! This is the moment you've been warning us about.

    Armed federal agents wearing masks who refuse to identify themselves are violating rights and committing crimes with impunity. They don't drive vehicles with federal plates but instead use rented vans. They grab people from their place of employment and send them off to camps.

    • by linuxguy ( 98493 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @01:52PM (#65764758) Homepage

      > Armed federal agents wearing masks who refuse to identify themselves

      It would not surprise me if some of these goons have the "Don't tread on me" flags on their private vehicles. They themselves are the threat they were warning us about.

    • by sinij ( 911942 )
      I don't agree with the rest of your post, but for the record, I am not OK with mandatory face scans by ICE agents in the absence of court order or criminal charges. This is unreasonable search and violation of privacy.
  • What will the deportation force of 42,000, which is 4x more agents than the FBI has (not including the 3000 diverted agents), https://www.cato.org/blog/ice-... [cato.org] do when they run out of farmers and restaurant workers to deport? Will they go back to trying to find violent criminals?

    Also, do we really want to deport people who have stayed in the US for a long period without harmful actions (doing work isn't harm, I mean, does *your* work harm?)? It seems unnecessarily cruel to demand a pound of flesh and uproo

  • I just won't go to the US any more. Problem solved. If I want to go somewhere warm in winter, Portugal or Spain are nice. Or St. Maarten. Or any number of other places.

  • Meta post here (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
    And I don't mean facebook. I want to talk about this post and the comments on it.

    One of the major problems is that anyone who voted to give away their rights in order to kick out immigrants or just plain be mean to them isn't going to read this thread.

    We're all in information silos and there is insane amounts of lies and misinformation and propaganda out there designed to benefit the billionaires who bought the entire American Media over the last 50 years.

    But what gets me is people who seek out
    • "anyone who voted to give away their rights in order to kick out immigrants or just plain be mean to them isn't going to read this thread."

      Yes, they will. They will be proud to be hurting the people they are hurting and they have zero awareness that they will get a turn as well. Then they will mock you and accuse you of being a troll, a bot, or both, and without any irony whatsoever. How long have you been here? You should know how these reprobates work by now.

  • by organgtool ( 966989 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @11:46AM (#65764416)
    If ICE ever comes to my area, I'll just start wearing a mask in public. Or would wearing a mask put me at risk for being arrested for impersonating a federal officer?
  • Where on earth is congress?

    My understanding is that this is, unfortunately, probably technically allowed in the absence of a federal law saying that it's not. Or, at the very least, the current Supreme Court certainly wouldn't shut down the behavior. It seems like such a law would enjoy support from a wide enough cast of characters (the left, because "stick it to ICE" and the libertarian right because of the obvious infringement on personal liberty) that it should have enough support to pass.

    If we don'

    • Congress is complicit because they allow it to happen.

    • The Speaker sent them home for another week for district time while they continue to be closed.
    • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Friday October 31, 2025 @01:44PM (#65764730) Homepage Journal

      "Where on earth is congress?"

      Adjourned by Trump's little Johnson to avoid swearing in Adelita Grijalva because she's the last vote needed to force the release of the Epstein files which were previously sealed by a judge so that the Democrats couldn't release them when they controlled the government, because maggots love pedos.

      Anyone blaming the shutdown on anything else has not just lost the plot, they forgot what was happening last fucking week, and proven that they are mentally incompetent to say anything of value on the subject. And/or, of course, that their systems should be checked for CP.

  • What you need is a different look everyday.

    https://adam.harvey.studio/cvd... [adam.harvey.studio]

  • By definition of the United States Constitution, The United States Government (this includes ICE) does not have the right to search you, which includes searching your identity information.

    If you're inside the country, unless you're doing something wrong, they have no right to simply track you within a database for 15 years? This right is enjoyed by both citizens and non-citizens alike.

    Now, what they DO have a right to do is obtain warrants for individuals that they have documented of violating the law or suspected of violating the law. Signed by a judge.

    Walking up to you with a cell phone camera and biometrically identifying you is not even close to something they should have the power to do, and when the Democrats regain power should shut this down as soon as possible.
  • Official policy is that the result of the facial scan trumps (sorry) any and all contradictory evidence, including green cards, passports and even birth certificates.

    So, if the app mis-identifies you - which happens quite often to non-whites - you're getting detained and deported without any due process.

  • by sandbagger ( 654585 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @01:52PM (#65764756)

    "Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing."

    "What the hell are you talking about?" Yossarian shouted at her in bewildered, furious protest. "How did you know it was Catch-22? Who the hell told you it was Catch-22?"

    "The soldiers with the hard white hats and clubs. The girls were crying. 'Did we do anything wrong?' they said. The men said no and pushed them away out the door with the ends of their clubs. 'Then why are you chasing us out?' the girls said. 'Catch-22,' the men said. All they kept saying was 'Catch-22, Catch-22.' What does it mean, Catch-22? What is Catch-22?"

    "Didn't they show it to you?" Yossarian demanded, stamping about in anger and distress. "Didn't you even make them read it?"

    "They don't have to show us Catch-22," the old woman answered. "The law says they don't have to."

    "What law says they don't have to?""Catch-22."

  • Go ahead and snap my picture [tmdb.org].

  • by Local ID10T ( 790134 ) <ID10T.L.USER@gmail.com> on Friday October 31, 2025 @04:22PM (#65765054) Homepage

    Mr Tuttle? [imdb.com]

  • by Big Hairy Gorilla ( 9839972 ) on Friday October 31, 2025 @08:16PM (#65765444)
    And any building in Manhattan I've been in in a long time. Or any shopping mall or downtown building. Same with WiFi... every building and business has WiFi so if you walk thru any of those, and bleed out your emei or some device id, you can't opt out, it's the cost of entry.

    Nobody really thinks about it, and it's possibly offtopic, but permission to scan a persons face is already a battle lost. There is no practical opt out option.

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