Last week, SoCal’s Monterey Park passed the nation’s first voter-approved permanent citywide data center ban. Communities rejecting data centers, “also targets of ICE raids, are drawing connections between the two,” writes @ehtse.bsky.social in a new op-ed for @coloradoboulevard.bsky.social

Data Centers Are Powering ICE: Communities Are Pushing Back

GUEST OPINION From Monterey Park to City of Industry, Montebello, El Monte, Covina, and more, data center protests have spread across the SGV. These communities, also targets of I

coloradoboulevard.net

Jason Koebler@jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 7mo ago

New: I got body camera footage from a case in which a cop used Flock to wrongfully accuse an innocent woman of stealing a package: "Nothing gets in or out of the town without us knowing about it" www.404media.co/cop-used-flo...

In 2021, a 25-year-old US citizen had their DNA collected by CBP at a Chicago airport according to new govt data. They were just one of about 2000 US citizens who had their DNA collected by border agents & shared with the FBI including some as young as 14. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

US border patrol collected DNA from thousands of US citizens for years, data shows

CBP officers took DNA samples from about 2,000 citizens, some as young as 14 and many who never faced criminal charges, new analysis shows

theguardian.com

Newly released data shows Customs and Border Protection funneled the DNA of nearly 2,000 US citizens—some as young as 14—into an FBI crime database, raising alarms about oversight and legality. www.wired.com/story/dhs-ha...

DHS Has Been Collecting US Citizens’ DNA for Years

Newly released data shows Customs and Border Protection funneled the DNA of nearly 2,000 US citizens—some as young as 14—into an FBI crime database, raising alarms about oversight and legality.

wired.com

When we published our 2024 report “Raiding the Genome,” we suspected that DHS agents might be taking DNA from US citizens. We can now confirm that those suspicions were correct. www.raidingthegenome.org

Thank you @pressley.house.gov for bringing attention to DHS’s abusive DNA collection program in Congress this week. The public deserves transparency about how federal immigration enforcement handles people’s sensitive genetic material.

Rep. Pressley Slams DHS for Stealing Immigrants’ DNA and Giving to FBI Databases

YouTube video by Rep. Ayanna Pressley

youtu.be

CBP is looking to expand cell phone hacking capabilities for seized phones at the border. The more CBP has access to our private data, the more they will continue to bypass due process and justify their unlawful deportations www.wired.com/story/cbp-wa...

CBP Wants New Tech to Search for Hidden Data on Seized Phones

Customs and Border Protection is asking companies to pitch tools for performing deep analysis on the contents of devices seized at the US border.

wired.com

Border Patrol is buying new tech... "advanced AI" to surveil dense residential areas? Automated surveillance towers? Tech to see through walls?? I talked to @sambiddle.com of @theintercept.com about serious risks amid the agency's increasingly aggressive behavior. theintercept.com/2025/07/23/c...

Border Patrol Wants Advanced AI to Spy on American Cities

A Customs and Border Protection “Industry Day” deck also asks for drones, seismic sensors, and tech that can see through walls.

theintercept.com

This week, @wyden.senate.gov cited findings from our recent update to the “Raiding the Genome” report in an oversight letter to DHS and DOJ, raising important questions about the massive DNA collection program led by those agencies. www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-r...

Wyden Demands Answers on Shadowy, Mass Collection of DNA from Immigrants by DHS | U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon

The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon

wyden.senate.gov

NEW: @wyden.senate.gov is pressing DHS and DOJ to answer questions about the collection of children's DNA, which is being added to a criminal database. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/dhs-an...

DHS Faces New Pressure Over DNA Taken From Immigrant Children

The US government has added the DNA of approximately 133,000 migrant children and teens to a criminal database, which critics say could mean police treat them like suspects “indefinitely.”

wired.com

“It’s very clear that the current goal is to continue to grow digital surveillance and use it for whatever this current administration decides,” our Associate @ehtse.bsky.social told @prismreports.org

Maurizio Guerrero@mauriziogro.bsky.social · last yr.

prismreports.org/2025/07/10/s... This administration is rapidly consolidating a surveillance state with diminished privacy rights and due process, ensuring that all our sensitive information can be used against us @protectdemocracy.org ‪‬ @eff.org ‬ @cdt.org @pogo.org @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social

I was interviewed for this piece:

Prism@prismreports.org · last yr.

The growing surveillance state in the U.S. ensures that your data can be used against you. Through court battles, legal loopholes, executive orders, & shady contracts, the Trump admin is crushing the safeguards protecting privacy rights & due process, @mauriziogro.bsky.social investigates.

New from 404 Media: ICE is searching a massive insurance and medical bill database to find deportation targets, according to internal ICE material. The database is all encompassing, contains details on 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills www.404media.co/ice-is-searc...

ICE Is Searching a Massive Insurance and Medical Bill Database to Find Deportation Targets

The database, called ISO ClaimSearch, is nearly all encompassing and contains details on more than 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills.

404media.co

Last year, we published “Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing.” Since then, we’ve continued to research DHS’s DNA-collection program. Today, we’re sharing some updates. raidingthegenome.org

Struggling with the work/they're building concentration camps balance.

Had a great chat with @mludwig.bsky.social for this important piece

Truthout@truthout.org · last yr.

“Immigrants are the first target; and if they can get away with doing these things to immigrants, what are the legal barriers from moving on to the next undesirable group?”

Gonna try to be nuanced here and speak broadly: There are several reasons to be skeptical of driverless cars, but the biggest one is the fact that they need to record everything in order to function. And then police see them as an extension of the surveillance state and act accordingly

Waymo Pauses Service in Downtown LA Neighborhood Where They're Getting Lit on Fire

A company spokesperson said it is working with law enforcement to determine when it can move the cars that have been.

404media.co

ICE arrested 36 Chinese & Taiwanese immigrants after raiding an LA nightclub. That's them, ziptied on the sidewalk. Yo Asians—if you weren't already outraged and mobilizing on behalf of others, guess what? That "First they came for the..." poem has gotten up to us. www.latimes.com/california/s...

As the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement in the nation's interior, it’s trying to issue a $25 million contract for DNA testing. "The mass collection of this data leaves it open for abuse," Associate @ehtse.bsky.social told @bloomberg.com

ICE Moves to DNA-Test Families Targeted for Deportation with New Contract

Advocates worry the tests will pave the way for the Trump administration to separate children from their caregivers.

bloomberg.com

Quoted in this!

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.

US immigration authorities collecting DNA information of children in criminal database

"The push has put a key Palantir product called Foundry into at least four federal agencies, including D.H.S. and the Health and Human Services Department. Widely adopting Foundry, which organizes and analyzes data, paves the way for Mr. Trump to easily merge information from different agencies..."

Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans

nytimes.com

The privacy expert is @sglabe.bsky.social! She says: “That’s not immigration enforcement. That’s genetic surveillance.”

WIRED@wired.com · last yr.

If the government’s goal is to determine whether a detainee is connected to past crimes, one privacy expert tells WIRED, there would be no need to add DNA to CODIS—they could simply check for a match against existing profiles. Read the full story by @dmehro.bsky.social

NEW: The US government has collected DNA samples from 133,000+ migrant children and teenagers and uploaded them into CODIS, a national criminal database originally built for convicted sex offenders and violent criminals, according to documents reviewed by WIRED.

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database

Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4, whose genetic data is uploaded to an FBI-run database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future.

wired.com

SCOOP: ICE, HSI, and DHS are getting side-door access to the nationwide system of Flock license plate cameras by asking local police to perform lookups for them, new public records show. ICE does *not* have a contract to use this surveillance tool itself. www.404media.co/ice-taps-int...

ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows

Flock's automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras are in more than 5,000 communities around the U.S. Local police are doing lookups in the nationwide system for ICE.

404media.co

TX Gov. Abbott has been test running this for the past few years. To understand what this might look like nationwide, we need to look to “Operation Lone Star.” Sharing more below

NPR@npr.org · last yr.

If approved, the move would be the first time Guard troops at the national level have been asked to assist in the removal of migrants in the U.S. without legal status.

Three years ago, we released “American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century.” The report describes the surveillance apparatus that Trump is using to target immigrants, activists and anyone else who challenges his agenda. We’re re-releasing it today with a new foreword.

American Dragnet | Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century

One of two American adults is in a law enforcement face recognition database. An investigation.

americandragnet.org

SCOOP: CFBP just cancelled plans to implement new rules that would have tightened restrictions on what sensitive personal info data brokers are allowed to sell. The rule was proposed after data about US servicemembers was repeatedly exposed in which experts term a national security nightmare.

CFBP Quietly Kills Rule to Shield Americans From Data Brokers

Russell Vought, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has canceled plans to more tightly regulate the sale of Americans’ sensitive personal data.

wired.com

ICYMI: NIH is building a national health database. "We know that health information is incredibly sensitive. When people go to their healthcare provider, they're giving up that information because they have to in order to receive a service." - Associate @ehtse.bsky.social, to @nbcwashington.com

NIH director proposes national health database, sparks privacy concerns

Privacy experts are sounding the alarm after the federal government announced a plan earlier this week to create a health database of the U.S. population. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bh...

nbcwashington.com

🚨SCOOP: The aviation industry is now selling airline passengers' private info to Trump's immigration enforcers and the data is fed into a secretive government intelligence operation, according to documents reviewed by The Lever. www.levernews.com/airlines-are...

Airlines Are Collecting Your Data And Selling It To ICE

An aviation industry clearinghouse is collecting passenger information from billions of past and future flights and selling it to Trump’s immigration enforcers.

levernews.com