Washington, D.C. – This week, United We Dream and over 30 immigrant and civil rights movement partners, submitted a public comment to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights urging the Biden Administration to close a legal loophole that has given ICE and CBP unrestrained use of tech to surveil, target, and harm immigrants and people of color. ICE and CBP’s consistent misuse of facial recognition technology, coupled with the extraction of biometric information, reliance on racist algorithms, and sharing of data with major tech corporations, have contributed to systemic violations of people’s privacy, dignity and civil and human rights.
Karen Fierro Ruiz, Federal Advocacy & Policy Manager of United We Dream, said:
“Black, brown, and immigrant communities are all too familiar with ICE and CBP’s terrorizing surveillance and abuse, and we refuse to be silent while these agencies continue to undermine our civil and human rights. Facial recognition technology subjects immigrant communities to intensified scrutiny, with its inherent algorithmic biases often incorrectly identifying individuals and subjecting them to unjust arrests, detentions, and deportations. Studies have shown that individuals of color are up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified by this technology.
For years, legal loopholes have given ICE and CBP unchecked power to still use this deeply flawed tech against our communities while simultaneously selling this data to private tech corporations without our communities’ consent, putting our safety and privacy at risk. Immigrant youth and our allies are urging the Biden Administration to permanently close these legal loopholes and commit to safeguarding everyone’s civil rights, ensuring fair treatment, due process, and dignity for all, irrespective of immigration status.”
