Let’s talk about ICE. This post is long, but it’s worth reading to understand how to protect your right to privacy.
It might sound extreme, but everyday Americans may soon want to consider face coverings for reasons far beyond health or fashion. Our Constitution guarantees a right to privacy, yet that right is being steadily eroded by the Trump administration’s expanding surveillance powers. ICE has quietly introduced a new mobile app called Mobile Fortify, a tool that allows agents to scan a person’s face or take contactless fingerprints directly from a smartphone. The app connects in real time to massive federal biometric databases, including those used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to verify identity and immigration status instantly.
Leaked internal documents reveal that the app can cross-reference a captured image against hundreds of millions of stored photos in systems like the Traveler Verification Service and the Automated Biometric Identification System, databases originally designed for border control but now deployed deep inside the country. If the algorithm flags someone as “not a U.S. citizen,” agents can override traditional proof of citizenship, even something as official as a birth certificate, in favor of whatever the system reports. And those scanned have no right to refuse, including U.S. citizens.
What makes this especially alarming is the system’s reach and permanence. Mobile Fortify is capable of storing facial images and fingerprint scans for up to 15 years, regardless of a person’s immigration or citizenship status. Each scan can pull up personal data (photo, date of birth, nationality) and even logs GPS coordinates of where the scan occurred. ICE has provided almost no details about how errors are handled or whether individuals are notified of false matches, and there’s no clear policy limiting who can access or share that data once it’s collected.
This is a turning point, a shift toward biometric policing becoming a part of everyday American life. The same surveillance systems once confined to airports and borders are now appearing in neighborhoods, workplaces, and public demonstrations. There’s no opt-out, no warrant requirement, and almost no oversight. In a nation built on personal freedom, the idea that the government can identify, track, and store your data simply by pointing a phone at your face should alarm everyone citizens and non-citizens alike.
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