Cybersecurity Policy Report, House Democrats Demand Answers About ICE’s Use of ALPRs for ‘Unrestrained Surveillance’, (Oct 26, 2026)
Thirty-five House Democrats are demanding that ICE provide details about its “potentially illegal” use of data collected by Flock Safety’s automatic license plate readers (ALPRs).
“We write with serious concern regarding reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been accessing data from Flock Safety automatic license-plate-reader (ALPR) cameras, an AI-powered surveillance system, with no formal contract or governing agreement in place, creating serious concerns around data privacy and overreach,” the lawmakers said in a letter sent Friday to David Venturella, ICE’s acting director.
“According to recent reporting, ICE has used state and local law-enforcement agencies to conduct more than 4,000 searches of Flock camera data on its behalf, enabling ICE personnel to obtain personally identifiable information without a criminal warrant,” they noted.
“Not only is this protocol potentially illegal, exploiting this information side-door allows ICE personnel to query ALPR cameras deployed across multiple states—in effect granting federal agents access to a nationwide, continuously updated surveillance grid capable of tracking the movements of millions of people in real time,” the Democrats said.
“Such chilling, unrestrained surveillance obtained without judicial authorization, contractual safeguards, or public transparency, represents far more than a procedural lapse—it represents the quiet expansion of a federal surveillance system operating out of sight and beyond any meaningful public oversight,” they said.
“This is a serious breach of privacy and a clear departure from federal law and agency policy. The ability of federal agents to access vast quantities of location-tracking data, without judicial authorization and without public disclosure, constitutes an unprecedented intrusion into the privacy of the general public, and must be explained immediately,” they added.
They set a Nov. 20 deadline for Mr. Venturella to provide details about ICE’s use of ALPR data, including how often ICE has accessed ALPR systems, how the ALPR data is used, and whether ICE intends “to formalize a contract or memorandum of understanding with Flock Safety or any other ALPR vendor.”
The letter’s lead signatories were Reps. Brittany Pettersen (D., Colo.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.).
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