Reining in AI Surveillance

Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) is fast becoming a core component of surveillance technology all while lining the pockets of Big Tech corporations. At the hands of law enforcement, AI can exacerbate surveillance harms such as the discriminatory targeting of Black, brown, and im/migrants communities. DHS’s acquisitions of AI technology– which may rely on biased algorithms – are helping to automate critical decisions in the immigration system such as whether to detain, deport, or grant immigration relief or a visa to millions of individuals.

Legal Efforts

  • FOIA Lawsuit (Pangea Legal Services et al v USCIS et al): On October 4, 2024, we filed a lawsuit with Pangea Legal Services and Mijente asking the court to order DHS and all its sub agencies to release records pertaining to their use of AI and other related algorithms.

Advocacy

  • Sign on Letter to White House OMB: 106 organizations nationwide sent a letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget urging them to immediately use its authority to terminate DHS’s non-compliant AI programs and to deny waivers and exemptions that would enable DHS to continue withholding information from the public about its use of AI for surveillance, detention and deportations.

  • Sign on Letter to DHS Secretary: 142 national and local racial justice, immigrant rights’, and tech privacy groups sent a letter to DHS Sec. Mayorkas outlining concerns on the use of AI by DHS and its sub agencies. According to our research, DHS is failing to meet the guidelines set by the Biden administration on the Responsible Use of AI and must halt the use by December 1, 2024 if it doesn’t meet the minimum requirements.

  • Public Comments to OMB on AI: Led by JFL, 35 civil rights, immigrant rights’, and racial justice groups submitted public comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) draft guidance in response to the Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence (AI) announced in December 2023. The public comments addressed the flaws in the OMB’s guidance risk assessment framework and offer nine additional recommendations.

Resources

  • DHS AI Report: “Automating Deportation: The Artificial Intelligence Behind the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Enforcement Regime” This report in collaboration with Mijente, breaks down how DHS’s use of AI threatens to worsen the existing discriminatory practices of the immigration system, impacting the civil and privacy rights of millions of immigrants, families, and the larger US community.

  • Press Release on DHS AI Policy Concerns