The Department of Homeland Security is stepping up surveillance in immigration raids sweeping citizens

Luis Martinez was on his way to work on a cold morning in Minneapolis when federal agents suddenly surrounded him, forcing the SUV he was driving to stop in the middle of the street.

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Masked agents knocked on the window and demanded that Martinez show identification. Then one of them held up his cellphone inches from Martinez’s face and scanned his features, capturing the shape of his eyes, the curves of his lips, and the exact quarters of his cheeks.

The whole time the customer kept asking: Are you an American citizen?

The encounter in a Minneapolis suburb this week exemplifies the tactics on display in the Trump administration’s anti-immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which it describes as the largest of its kind and which has attracted national scrutiny after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens this month.

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Across Minnesota and other states where DHS has increased staffing, officials say law enforcement efforts are targeting and focusing on dangerous criminals. But photos, videos and internal documents paint a different picture, showing agents relying heavily on biometric surveillance and vast, interconnected databases, highlighting how the sprawling digital surveillance apparatus has become central to the Trump administration’s campaign against immigration.

Civil liberties experts warn that the increasing use of these systems threatens to overwhelm citizens and non-citizens alike, often without transparency or meaningful oversight.

Over the past year, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies have dramatically expanded their ability to collect, share and analyze people’s personal data, thanks to a network of agreements with local, state, federal and international agencies, as well as contracts with technology companies and data brokers. The databases include immigration and travel records, facial photographs, and information from vehicle databases.

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In Martinez’s case, a facial scan found no match, and federal agents let him go only after he showed his U.S. passport, which he said he carried for fear of such an encounter.

“I used to tell people that Minnesota here is a paradise for everyone, all cultures are free here,” he said. “But now people are starting to flee the state because of everything that’s going on. It’s terrifying. It’s not safe anymore.”

Federal authorities, combined with other government surveillance data and systems, can now monitor American cities on a scale that would have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago, advocates say. Agents can identify people on the street through facial recognition, track their movements through license plate readers, and, in some cases, use commercially available phone location data to reconstruct daily routines and associations.

When asked by The Associated Press about the expanded use of surveillance tools, the Department of Homeland Security said it would not disclose sensitive methods to law enforcement.

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“Using various forms of technology to support investigations and law enforcement activities helps apprehend members of criminal gangs, child sex offenders, murderers, drug traffickers, identity thieves and others, all while respecting civil liberties and privacy interests,” she said.

Dan Herman, a former senior adviser for Customs and Border Protection in the Biden administration who now works at the Center for American Progress, said government access to facial recognition, other personal data and surveillance systems poses a threat to people’s privacy rights and civil liberties without adequate checks.

“They have access to a massive amount of trade, travel, immigration and screening data. This is an important and valuable national security asset, but there is concern about the potential for it to be misused,” Herman said. “Everyone should be extremely concerned about the potential for this data to be weaponized for improper purposes.”

Face recognition

The Department of Homeland Security revealed online Wednesday that it is using a facial recognition app, Mobile Fortify, which it said uses “trusted source images” to compare scans of people’s faces taken by agents to verify their identity. The app, which CBP said was produced by NEC, uses facial comparison or fingerprint matching systems.

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The app was in operation at CBP and ICE prior to the anti-immigration crackdown in the Los Angeles area in June, when 404Media first reported its existence.

In interactions observed by reporters and videos posted online, federal agents are rarely seen asking for consent before placing their cellphones on people’s faces, and in some clips they continue scanning even after someone objects.

In two cases seen by an AP journalist near Columbia Heights, Minn., where immigration officials recently detained a 5-year-old boy and his father, masked agents held up their phones a foot from people’s faces to capture their biometric details.

The technology is similar to facial recognition systems used at airports, but unlike airport screenings, where travelers are typically notified and can sometimes opt out, Martinez said they were given no choice.

According to a lawsuit filed against the Department of Homeland Security by the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago this month, DHS used Mobile Fortify in the field more than 100,000 times. The Department of Homeland Security told the AP that Mobile Fortify supports “rigorous verification of identity and immigration status during enforcement operations. It operates with an intentionally high matching threshold,” and uses only some immigration data.

Without federal guidelines for the use of facial recognition tools, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights warned in a September 2024 report that their deployment raises concerns about accuracy, oversight, transparency, discrimination and access to justice.

Body camera footage

Last year, the Trump administration scaled back a program to equip Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials with body cameras, but administration officials said some agents linked to the fatal shooting of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Peretti were wearing those cameras, and that footage is now under review.

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Gregory Bovino, who was the administration’s top Border Patrol official charged with the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis until Monday, began wearing a personal camera in response to a judge’s order late last year.

Body camera video could help clarify the events surrounding the killing by federal agents of Pretty, who was filming immigration agents with his cellphone when they shot him in the back.

Administration officials changed their tune after independent video footage emerged that raised serious questions about accusations by some Trump officials that Peretti intended to harm clients.

Emerging technologies

The Department of Homeland Security and its agencies are piloting and deploying more than 100 artificial intelligence systems, including some used in law enforcement activities, according to the department’s disclosure on Wednesday.

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Congress last year authorized U.S. Customs and Border Protection to take more than $2.7 billion to build border surveillance systems and add artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

In recent weeks, DHS has requested more information from the private sector about how technology companies and data providers can support their investigations and help identify people.

Meanwhile, the longtime government contractor, Palantir, was paid $30 million to extend a contract to build a system designed to locate people reported for deportation. The Trump administration revealed Wednesday that it is using Palantir’s artificial intelligence models to scrutinize immigration enforcement tips submitted to its tip line.

DHS is also exploring partnerships with license plate reader companies like Flock Safety to expand its tracking capabilities.
More funding for government surveillance tools is changing the landscape, said Rachel Levinson Waldman, who directs the Brennan Center for Justice’s Freedom and National Security Program.

“We are developing these technologies to enforce immigration laws,” she said. “Are we also going to expand or use it against American citizens who engage in completely lawful or protest activity?”

Freelance photojournalist Adam Gray contributed to this report from Minneapolis.