Wyden, Merkley and Markey Demand ICE Stop Using Mobile Facial Recognition App

Wyden, Merkley and Markey Demand ICE Stop Using Mobile Facial Recognition App

Senators raise concerns about harm to privacy and free speech

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley (both D-Ore.) today joined with U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) to urge the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stop using a new biometric mobile phone app, "Mobile Fortify," to surveil individuals in the United States.

Biometric scanning technology - such as facial recognition - is often biased and inaccurate, especially against communities of color. Even when accurate, this type of on-demand surveillance threatens the Fourth Amendment privacy rights and First Amendment free speech rights of everyone in the United States, especially when the technology is weaponized against protesters and anyone who speaks out against the federal government's policies.

"This app reportedly allows federal agents to identify and retrieve vast amounts of information on a person, just by pointing a phone at their face, " the senators wrote Todd Lyons, Acting Director of ICE. "ICE is reportedly repurposing data held across federal and state databases related to 'individuals, vehicles, airplanes, vessels, addresses, phone numbers and firearms' and may even be planning to buy data from commercial data brokers for this app."

"In the absence of meaningful regulation of the government's use of facial recognition tools, the public is likely to be increasingly subject to ongoing, real-time surveillance," the lawmakers wrote. "This Big Brotherism means that individuals may be less able to move, assemble, or appear in public without the federal government identifying and tracking them. As studies have shown, when individuals believe they are being surveilled, they are less likely to engage in First Amendment protected activities, such as protests or rallies - undermining the very core of our democracy."

The senators request responses by October 2, 2025, to questions including:

• Who did ICE contract with to develop and deploy the Mobile Fortify app?
• When did ICE first begin deploying the Mobile Fortify app on phones carried by ICE officers?
• Before deploying the Mobile Fortify app, did ICE conduct any testing of its accuracy?
• Has ICE conducted any legal review on the authority permitting the deployment and use of Mobile Fortify?
• What are ICE's current policies, practices, and procedures governing use of the Mobile Fortify app?
• Will ICE commit to ending the use of the Mobile Fortify app? If not, why not?

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) also signed the letter to Lyons.

On June 20, 2025, Senators Markey and Wyden wrote two letters to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary Noem about the government's use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to determine whether an individual poses a national security risk.

The letter is here.