Congressional and civil-liberties backlash over ICE/CBP facial recognition and broader domestic surveillance authorities
US lawmakers and civil-liberties advocates are escalating scrutiny of ICE and CBP use of facial recognition amid reports that immigration agents have used face-scanning tools on people observing or protesting enforcement activity. Proposed legislation dubbed the “ICE Out of Our Faces Act” would seek to bar ICE/CBP facial recognition use, alongside related demands to limit tracking of First Amendment activity and questions about whether ICE maintains a “domestic terrorists” database tied to immigration protests. Separately, records reviewed by WIRED indicate DHS’s Mobile Fortify facial-recognition app—rolled out in 2025 to “determine or verify” identities during operations—cannot reliably verify identity and is intended at best to generate investigative leads; the reporting also describes DHS approving the tool after weakening centralized privacy reviews and removing department-wide limits on facial recognition.
In parallel, Congress is debating the renewal of FISA Section 702, with lawmakers raising concerns that domestic surveillance authorities could be applied more broadly, including in support of immigration-related enforcement framed as a national security issue. Nextgov reports that transparency data shows intelligence agencies increased 702 searches in 2024 using identifiers linked to known or suspected Americans while pursuing foreign cyber and terrorism threats, even as the FBI reduced its own direct U.S.-person queries after new safeguards. A separate Nextgov item on an AI moratorium and sector-specific AI regulation is policy-focused and not directly tied to the ICE/CBP facial recognition deployments or Section 702 reauthorization debate described in the other reporting.
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How this story unfolded
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Congress debates Section 702 renewal amid civil-liberties concerns
By February 2026, lawmakers, intelligence officials, and advocacy groups were publicly debating whether to reauthorize or reform FISA Section 702. Civil-liberties groups pushed for warrant requirements for U.S.-person queries, while intelligence officials warned that weakening the authority could harm national security.
Lawmakers introduce ICE Out of Our Faces Act
On February 5, 2026, Democratic lawmakers introduced the bicameral ICE Out of Our Faces Act. The bill would bar ICE and CBP from acquiring or using facial recognition and other biometric technologies, require deletion of collected biometric data, and create legal recourse for unlawful use.
Oregon testimony describes Mobile Fortify misidentification concerns
In an Oregon case described in sworn testimony, an agent said two photos of the same woman produced different identities in Mobile Fortify and that the app did not provide match-confidence scores. The testimony highlighted concerns that the tool could generate unreliable leads rather than verify identity.
Mobile Fortify reportedly used more than 100,000 times in the field
According to a lawsuit by Illinois and Chicago, Mobile Fortify was used in field operations more than 100,000 times after its launch. The reporting also alleges the app was used on targeted individuals, U.S. citizens, and people observing or protesting enforcement activity.
Transparency report shows high 2024 U.S.-person queries under Section 702
A government transparency report released in May said intelligence agencies conducted far more searches in 2024 using identifiers linked to known or suspected Americans while investigating foreign cyber and terrorism threats. The report also said the FBI reduced its direct U.S.-person searches after new safeguards took effect.
DHS launches Mobile Fortify facial-recognition app for field use
In spring 2025, the Department of Homeland Security launched and rapidly deployed the Mobile Fortify app for immigration agents to use during field operations. The app was presented as a tool to help determine or verify identities in the field.
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Tech bills of the week: Restricting biometric use; expanding the quantum workforce; and more - Nextgov/FCW
nextgov.com
Open source"ICE Out of Our Faces Act" would ban ICE and CBP use of facial recognition - Ars Technica
arstechnica.com
Open sourceICE and CBP’s Face-Recognition App Can’t Actually Verify Who People Are | WIRED
wired.com
Open sourceDomestic surveillance fears loom over Congress debate to renew spying power - Nextgov/FCW
nextgov.com
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US Intelligence and Homeland Security Oversight Scrutiny Over Surveillance, Biometrics, and Handling of Classified Intelligence
Senior US officials and lawmakers are escalating oversight and policy debates around **surveillance authorities and intelligence handling**. The White House confirmed it will convene a high-level meeting with senior national security leaders and key members of Congress to discuss reauthorizing **FISA Section 702**, which is set to lapse without congressional action; the authority enables warrantless targeting of foreigners’ communications but can incidentally collect Americans’ communications, fueling renewed civil-liberties and warrant-requirement disputes. Separately, Director of National Intelligence **Tulsi Gabbard** is facing scrutiny on multiple fronts, including a **whistleblower complaint** alleging unusual restrictions on dissemination of highly classified NSA-derived intelligence and claims she directed the NSA not to publish a report and instead route details to her office; Gabbard’s office denies wrongdoing and says her actions were lawful, while the underlying complaint remains highly classified. Parallel oversight pressure is also building around **domestic-facing security and data practices**. The DHS Office of Inspector General launched an audit into how DHS components—initially focusing on **ICE** and the **Office of Biometric Identity Management**—collect, manage, share, and secure **PII and biometric data** used in immigration enforcement, following lawmakers’ concerns about facial recognition and license-plate data collection. In a separate but related governance controversy, Gabbard’s expanded involvement in **election security**—including participation around an FBI raid of a local elections office and actions involving voting systems that her team said had cybersecurity vulnerabilities—has raised questions about mandate boundaries between foreign-interference missions and domestic election administration. In contrast, the CIA’s announcement of a new acquisition framework to speed technology adoption is primarily an internal modernization/procurement change and does not materially advance the surveillance/oversight storyline beyond general national-security context.
Mar 21, 2026
US Immigration Enforcement Use of Facial Recognition and Surveillance Tools
US immigration enforcement operations in and around Minneapolis have drawn scrutiny over the use of **facial recognition** and other surveillance technologies against US residents, including protesters. Reporting describes ICE and other DHS components using tools such as the face-scanning app **Mobile Fortify**, **Clearview AI**, and **Palantir** systems to process tips and support identification and targeting workflows; coverage also notes broader government interest in commercial ad-tech and big-data tooling for law-enforcement and surveillance use cases. One account describes a protester alleging her **Global Entry** status was revoked after an encounter in which an agent scanned her face, and cites claims that multiple US citizens were recorded with facial recognition without consent. While these reports raise civil liberties and governance concerns with potential security implications (biometric collection, data sharing, and surveillance infrastructure), separate coverage about the administration’s anti-fraud rhetoric and inspector general staffing changes does not materially address the same surveillance-technology event and is not directly tied to the facial-recognition enforcement reporting.
Mar 21, 2026
U.S. Federal Agencies Expand Warrantless Commercial Surveillance and Location Data Purchases
The **Department of Homeland Security** and the **FBI** are expanding use of commercially available surveillance and data-tracking capabilities, prompting renewed scrutiny over privacy, civil liberties, and oversight. DHS is reportedly preparing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on surveillance technology in 2026, including a **$1 billion** blanket purchase agreement with *Palantir* and additional investments in AI-enabled monitoring, mobile tracking, and tools from vendors such as *Cellebrite* and *Paragon Solutions*. Advocacy groups and lawmakers have warned that these programs broaden the government’s ability to scan faces, track cell phone activity, and monitor both immigrants and U.S. citizens while governance mechanisms fail to keep pace. The **FBI** separately confirmed it has resumed buying Americans’ location and other commercially available data from brokers, reviving a practice the bureau had previously said it was not actively pursuing. Director **Kash Patel** told lawmakers the agency uses purchased data in ways it says are consistent with the Constitution and the **Electronic Communications Privacy Act**, while Sen. **Ron Wyden** characterized the practice as a warrantless workaround to Fourth Amendment protections. Reporting on DHS also indicates declining transparency, with Privacy Impact Assessment filings falling sharply and the department’s inspector general accusing the agency of obstructing audits tied to biometric data management and immigration enforcement, reinforcing concerns that federal surveillance capabilities are growing faster than meaningful oversight.
Mar 21, 2026