Overview
- 404 Media published videos of agents conducting street-level face scans, including a Chicago stop where an officer seized a driver's phone and scanned his face after he declined to show ID.
- Customs and Border Protection confirmed the Mobile Fortify app remains in use by ICE as part of its toolkit, while the Department of Homeland Security declined to discuss specific methods.
- A Senate letter to acting ICE director Todd Lyons seeks timelines, accuracy testing results, and policies governing use of tools like Mobile Fortify, including any use to identify U.S. citizens.
- Lawmakers cited a 2024 NIST assessment finding facial recognition performance drops on low-quality, off-angle, or poorly lit images typical of smartphone scans in the field.
- Privacy advocates at EPIC and EFF warn that these deployments threaten civil liberties and call for strict limits or bans on government face recognition.