Overview
- Federal records show ICE is preparing to procure more than $300 million in advanced systems to speed the identification, detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants.
- The planned suite includes AI-powered social-media monitoring, facial recognition, license-plate readers, phone-location data tools, drones, iris scanners and commercial people-finder services.
- Several Democratic-led states — New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Washington — have suspended ICE access to motor-vehicle databases, and a coalition of 40 House Democrats has urged others to do the same.
- Privacy and immigrant-rights advocates warn the new capabilities could extend ICE’s domestic surveillance reach beyond immigration enforcement.
- Separately, ICE is exploring a shift to large warehouse-style detention hubs to accelerate removals, according to a nonfinal draft plan described by the Washington Post.