Dems Wave Hands, Stomp Feet About ICE Using Mobile Face Recognition App

A group of senators has penned a sternly-worded letter to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) saying that they're very worried about the agency's use of facial recognition in its mission to cleanse the nation of immigrants with improper documents. 

Seven Democratic senators, led by Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), sent a letter to ICE acting director Todd Lyons on Thursday asking the agency to immediately cease use of a mobile biometric identification app known as Mobile Fortify over concerns about bias, inaccuracy, and a chilling effect on civil rights in the US. 

The Senators wrote that Mobile Fortify is a particular concern to them because it's available as a smartphone app, meaning that any agent who happens to have access to a cellular network can use it, without having to first pull a subject in for questioning like they would with a stationary facial rec device. 

The letter points to plenty of previous research reports that highlighted bias in facial recognition, with higher false identification rates for Black subjects. The US government's own study performed last year found that only two of five face recognition platforms it tested were equitable across demographics. The government has plowed ahead, adopting the technology despite studies like those and recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that the tech be reigned in until it gets better.

Not much is known about ICE's Mobile Fortify app outside of what's been discovered and reported by 404 Media, which first broke the story of the app's existence, and that's concerning to the Senators.

According to reports, which first surfaced in June, the app has access to more than 200 million images and is able to return data including a person's name, birthdate, nationality, and any dealings with the US immigration system if they aren't a US citizen. The app reportedly also has the ability to capture a fingerprint from a photograph, which can then be run against DHS and Department of State records. Queries can also be performed to connect an identified individual to other people, vehicles, addresses, phone numbers, and firearm ownership, among other data points.

"[Mobile Fortify] reportedly allows agents to point a smartphone at an individual's face or fingerprints and identify the individual based on a biometric match against several federal databases," the Senators said. According to the letter, ICE agents have already been spotted pointing phones at protestors, which they fear may mean that ICE is using face recognition tech to surveil US citizens exercising their first amendment rights. 

• Facial recognition works better in the lab than on the street, researchers show
• Even modest makeup can thwart facial recognition
• The TSA likes facial recognition at airports. Passengers and politicians, not so much
• Cops love facial recognition, and withholding info on its use from the courts

"As studies have shown, when individuals believe they are being surveilled, they are less likely to engage in First Amendment protected activities," the letter continued. "Coupled with the Administration's recent actions … the use of these biometric tools raises significant concerns about possible misuse." 

The Senators appear to be just as much in the dark about the actual capabilities of the app as everyone else forced to learn about such things from the news media, so the letter is requesting information as basic as who the agency contracted with to develop it and how widely it's been deployed. The senators also demanded to know whether it had been tested for accuracy prior to deployment, whether photographs are retained and for how long, and why ICE won't stop using it if the agency declines the Senators' request to do so. Those answers are due to the senators by October 2. Or else!

ICE acknowledged receipt of questions for this story, but didn't provide a response before publication. ®