Expanding Surveillance of Immigrants — At What Cost?

Immigrants

Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service

The U.S. government has steadily expanded its use of surveillance tools, often under the banner of fighting fraud, stopping crime, or detecting undocumented immigrants. But those same tools, from DMV database access and facial recognition to cell phone tracking and data broker contracts, are now building a vast infrastructure that reaches far beyond immigration enforcement.

This digital dragnet has the potential to place every American under unprecedented scrutiny. By compiling and cross-linking personal information, the state increases the risk of political targeting, identity theft, and massive data breaches. Panelists at the ACom conference examined these developments, highlighting the most recent trends under this administration, and what safeguards are needed to protect democracy and civil liberties.

The IRS has already shared the residential addresses of more than 40,000 foreigners with immigration authorities, who are seeking to have the confidential information of at least 1 million more people incorporated directly into their database. The information was taken from the 1040, W2 and 1099 income tax return forms filed by taxpayers, “which are now sent directly to ICE’s immigrant database.

Nicole Alvarez, Senior Policy Analyst for Technology Policy at the Center for American Progress said that recent reports have revealed that the administration is using sensitive personal data such as taxpayers, medical care and immigration to build a rapidly expanding surveillance network. For example, she said that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) signed a memorandum of cooperation to allow the sharing of taxpayer information for the purpose of targeting and deporting immigrants. This move has seriously deviated from the principle that the data must be used only for its original purpose.

Alvarez warned that the government is promoting cross-departmental data centralization and integrating tax, social security and other information into a single database.

Emerald Tse, Associate at Georgetown’s Center on Privacy & Technology said immigrant communities have long been under the pressure of digital surveillance. A report released by the center in 2022 revealed that ICE has extensive access to databases such as water and electricity companies, vehicle management agencies, etc., and monitors the daily life of the majority of the U.S. population. In 2024, another report revealed that the Department of Homeland Security collects immigrants’ DNA on a large scale and incorporates it into the national criminal investigation database CODIS for “predictive monitoring” of future crimes. She emphasized that these data collections often have nothing to do with crime, and even involve children and people who have not been prosecuted.

Sophia Cope, Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation reminded that the current administration required visa and ESTA visa-free applicants to provide social media accounts for the past five years as early as its first term. “This not only affects the applicants, but also their friends and relatives in the United States may be implicated due to online interactions, leading to a chilling effect on speech.” She added that the current government has even announced that it will expand “continuous review” and conduct long-term social media monitoring of various visa holders in the country. Cope reminded that although U.S. citizens cannot be refused entry, if they refuse to unlock the device, they may still be detained for several hours or even have the device confiscated. For green card holders and visa holders, the risk is higher, which may result in the revocation of status or direct denial of entry.

Also ReadBiden: Reversing Trump immigration policies will take months

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