404 Media FOIA report reveals ICE plan to give facial recognition app to 1,300+ local police agencies to verify immigration status

On June 5, 2026, 404 Media published an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained via public records request revealing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to distribute a facial recognition app to potentially more than 1,000 local police agencies deputized under the 287(g) Task Force Model program. The app enables officers to point their phone camera at any individual they encounter, scan their face against a database of hundreds of millions of government records—including State Department visa databases and Transportation Security Administration records—and receive biographical information and immigration enforcement status. ICE and Customs and Border Protection were already using a similar app, Mobile Fortify, on U.S. streets; this second app would extend that surveillance capability to local police departments nationwide.

The system operates without warrant requirements or individualized suspicion. Scanned images are retained in DHS systems for 15 years, creating permanent records of both immigrants and U.S. citizens swept into the dragnet. The app has produced false matches and has been used against American citizens. Nate Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told 404 Media: "Sending local cops out to indiscriminately scan our faces, with a system that is known to generate false matches, that saves our data for 15 years, and that ensnares police into making immigration decisions that they are untrained for and that will undermine community safety efforts, is a recipe for disaster and for terrorizing members of communities across the country." Follow-up NPR reporting in June 2026 confirmed that approximately 1,300 agencies had already received access to the app, with DHS distributing a planning document to participating 287(g) agencies.

The archive records this as an expansion of federal surveillance infrastructure targeting marginalized communities and as a documented threat to First Amendment activity. Internal DHS documents reviewed by reporters confirmed that the app includes functionality to scan and photograph protesters, enabling identification of individuals who oppose immigration enforcement policies. The deployment to local police without congressional authorization or judicial oversight marks a significant escalation in executive surveillance power.