Immigrations officials have employed facial recognition tools to scan through driver's license databases in at least three states in a search for illegal immigrants, according to a new report.
The Washington Post reported that Utah, Vermont, and Washington have authorized varying degrees of searches to agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in recent years. Those three states and several others allow illegals to obtain either driver's licenses or driving privilege cards to operate motor vehicles.
Critics of ICE's examination of the license databases is being met with criticism.
"The state has told [undocumented immigrants], has encouraged them, to submit that information. To me, it's an insane breach of trust to then turn around and allow ICE access to that," Clare Garvie of Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology told the Post. The center led the study.
Added Jacinta González of advocacy group Mijente, "The public doesn't have a way of controlling what information the government has on them. And now there's this rapidly advancing technology, with very few guidelines and protections for people, putting all of this information at their fingertips in a very scary way."
ICE is not the only law enforcement agency that uses artificial intelligence to search through state driver's license photos. According to The New York Times, the FBI has conducted almost 400,000 database searches in recent years.
ICE spokesman Matt Bourke told the Times that the agency follows "established" protocol.
"During the course of an investigation, ICE has the ability to collaborate with external local, federal and international agencies to obtain information that may assist in case completion and subsequent prosecution. This is an established procedure that is consistent with other law enforcement agencies."
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