ICE

NBC News - Agents are aggressively photographing faces of people they encounter in their daily operations using smartphones with sophisticated facial recognition technology and professional-grade photo equipment. Some of the images are being run through facial recognition software in real time.

In recent months, ICE and other DHS officials have scanned Americans in Minneapolis, Chicago and Portland, Maine, often without their consent. The use of these tools and tactics is setting a new standard of street-level surveillance and information collection that has little precedent in the U.S.

NBC News spoke with witnesses and verified more than a dozen videos in which immigration officers appear to be taking such photographs. Several people described it as an act of intimidation.

NBC News - The growing surveillance activity on Americans comes as DHS, under which Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement operate, has invested heavily in AI-assisted facial recognition technologies that can rapidly compare an uploaded photo with vast databases to make a likely match, according to an NBC News review of publicly available agency contracts and a document reviewing its AI tools.

Many of the photos are taken through a customized DHS smartphone app called Mobile Fortify, which debuted last year. After a person’s face is scanned, the app is supposed to rapidly identify the individual and present their biographical information to the DHS employee using the technology, according to a document the agency published last week in accordance with executive orders signed under presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

NPR - Democrats released a 10-point plan for the Department of Homeland Security's immigration law enforcement agents in a letter to the GOP. In addition to their original demands, which include removing officers' masks, Democrats want officers to wear identifying information, such as their last name. Lawmakers also want these officers to have standard uniforms and equipment, aligning them with civil enforcement officers. 

NPR’s Claudia Grisales says Republicans are not shutting down the proposal yet, but there is a lot of negotiating left to do with little time to accomplish it. Grisales says another stopgap bill is an option, allowing lawmakers to kick the can down the road for a few more weeks.