For anyone curious, the app on the ICE agent’s phone is an app called Mobile Fortify.
It’s able to tap into all kinds of different federal databases that contain your biometric data, from ID photos to the facial recognition cameras you might have seen pop up at TSA checkpoints or at the boarding area for your flight. (you can, and absolutely should request to opt-out of these when presented with them, as not only is it perfectly legal to do so, but it can often take less time)
You’re not allowed to decline to be scanned (according to ICE, which does whatever it wants), it can also store fingerprint data, and your photo will be stored for 15 years, even if you weren’t matched to a record saying you were here illegally or had a deportation order.
ICE has stated that if the app shows a match, they consider it ‘definitive,’ and will then ignore any other evidence to the contrary provided by the person, including a birth certificate.
So far, there has already been at least one known case of a U.S. citizen being deported based on a faulty facial recognition scan through the app.
For anyone curious, the app on the ICE agent’s phone is an app called Mobile Fortify.
It’s able to tap into all kinds of different federal databases that contain your biometric data, from ID photos to the facial recognition cameras you might have seen pop up at TSA checkpoints or at the boarding area for your flight. (you can, and absolutely should request to opt-out of these when presented with them, as not only is it perfectly legal to do so, but it can often take less time)
You’re not allowed to decline to be scanned (according to ICE, which does whatever it wants), it can also store fingerprint data, and your photo will be stored for 15 years, even if you weren’t matched to a record saying you were here illegally or had a deportation order.
ICE has stated that if the app shows a match, they consider it ‘definitive,’ and will then ignore any other evidence to the contrary provided by the person, including a birth certificate.
So far, there has already been at least one known case of a U.S. citizen being deported based on a faulty facial recognition scan through the app.