Congressional and civil-liberties backlash over ICE/CBP facial recognition and broader domestic surveillance authorities
US lawmakers and civil-liberties advocates are escalating scrutiny of ICE and CBP use of facial recognition amid reports that immigration agents have used face-scanning tools on people observing or protesting enforcement activity. Proposed legislation dubbed the “ICE Out of Our Faces Act” would seek to bar ICE/CBP facial recognition use, alongside related demands to limit tracking of First Amendment activity and questions about whether ICE maintains a “domestic terrorists” database tied to immigration protests. Separately, records reviewed by WIRED indicate DHS’s Mobile Fortify facial-recognition app—rolled out in 2025 to “determine or verify” identities during operations—cannot reliably verify identity and is intended at best to generate investigative leads; the reporting also describes DHS approving the tool after weakening centralized privacy reviews and removing department-wide limits on facial recognition.
In parallel, Congress is debating the renewal of FISA Section 702, with lawmakers raising concerns that domestic surveillance authorities could be applied more broadly, including in support of immigration-related enforcement framed as a national security issue. Nextgov reports that transparency data shows intelligence agencies increased 702 searches in 2024 using identifiers linked to known or suspected Americans while pursuing foreign cyber and terrorism threats, even as the FBI reduced its own direct U.S.-person queries after new safeguards. A separate Nextgov item on an AI moratorium and sector-specific AI regulation is policy-focused and not directly tied to the ICE/CBP facial recognition deployments or Section 702 reauthorization debate described in the other reporting.
Timeline
Feb 5, 2026
Congress debates Section 702 renewal amid civil-liberties concerns
By February 2026, lawmakers, intelligence officials, and advocacy groups were publicly debating whether to reauthorize or reform FISA Section 702. Civil-liberties groups pushed for warrant requirements for U.S.-person queries, while intelligence officials warned that weakening the authority could harm national security.
Feb 5, 2026
Lawmakers introduce ICE Out of Our Faces Act
On February 5, 2026, Democratic lawmakers introduced the bicameral ICE Out of Our Faces Act. The bill would bar ICE and CBP from acquiring or using facial recognition and other biometric technologies, require deletion of collected biometric data, and create legal recourse for unlawful use.
Feb 5, 2026
Oregon testimony describes Mobile Fortify misidentification concerns
In an Oregon case described in sworn testimony, an agent said two photos of the same woman produced different identities in Mobile Fortify and that the app did not provide match-confidence scores. The testimony highlighted concerns that the tool could generate unreliable leads rather than verify identity.
Feb 5, 2026
Mobile Fortify reportedly used more than 100,000 times in the field
According to a lawsuit by Illinois and Chicago, Mobile Fortify was used in field operations more than 100,000 times after its launch. The reporting also alleges the app was used on targeted individuals, U.S. citizens, and people observing or protesting enforcement activity.
May 1, 2025
Transparency report shows high 2024 U.S.-person queries under Section 702
A government transparency report released in May said intelligence agencies conducted far more searches in 2024 using identifiers linked to known or suspected Americans while investigating foreign cyber and terrorism threats. The report also said the FBI reduced its direct U.S.-person searches after new safeguards took effect.
Apr 1, 2025
DHS launches Mobile Fortify facial-recognition app for field use
In spring 2025, the Department of Homeland Security launched and rapidly deployed the Mobile Fortify app for immigration agents to use during field operations. The app was presented as a tool to help determine or verify identities in the field.
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