ICE uses local firm to track plates.
The system will allow agents to receive alerts about vehicles and create‘ hot lists’
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is accessing a Bay Area company’s massive license plate database, increasing fears of activists worried about a federal immigration crackdown.
Livermore-based Vigilant Solutions’ database contains a couple of billion license plate images, according to a report by tech news site the Verge. The data is collected in conjunction with law enforcement and other agencies throughout the nation, according to the company’s website.
“Like most other law enforcement agencies, ICE uses information obtained from license plate readers as one tool in support of its investigations,” ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett told this news organization Friday. “ICE is not seeking to build a license plate reader database, and will not collect nor contribute any data to a national public or private database through this contract.”
ICE signed a contract in December with West Publishing, which is partnering with Vigilant Solutions. When reached for comment Friday, Vigilant Solutions would not confirm its deal with ICE.
“As policy, Vigilant Solutions is not at liberty to share any contractual details,” Vigilant said through a spokesman.
Vigilant said the license plate data can’t be linked to personally identifiable information unless paired with access to a state’s Department of Motor Vehicle database. Access to that database is restricted by the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), which carries stiff fines and federal prison penalties for any violation, the company said.
News about the ICE contract comes as the Bay Area is preparing for possible sweeping immigration raids, and as reports about deportations of residents from here and elsewhere are becoming
more common.
“It’s scary when our government is doing this kind of surveillance on undocumented immigrants, and also citizens of this country,” said Salvador Bustamante, executive director of San Jose-based LUNA (Latinos United for a New America). “How will they use this information? Will they be using this in cities like San Jose, San Francisco and others that have declared themselves sanctuary cities?”
Access to Vigilant’s database would allow ICE to track license plate locations for the last five years, according to a privacy assessment by the Department of Homeland Security completed in 2015. That assessment was used to create a framework for use of the technology, according to Bennett.
“Knowing the previous locations of a vehicle can help determine the whereabouts of subjects of criminal investigations or priority aliens to facilitate their interdiction and removal,” the assessment says.
Using the system, ICE agents also could receive alerts about certain license plates. Vigilant also offers a mobile app that “can create and manage hotlists of vehicles of interest,” according to its website.
Among the Bay Area law enforcement agencies that use Vigilant’s systems or share information with the company are Alameda, Dublin, Brentwood and Antioch, as well as the California Highway Patrol.
“We’ve always known these tools are ripe for abuse, and now the data is being fed directly to the Trump administration,” Nicole Ozer, Technology & Civil Liberties Policy director for the ACLU of California, said Friday.
“Santa Clara County led the charge to ask and answer the right questions about surveillance and protect community members with a landmark surveillance ordinance in 2016,” Ozer added. “Right now, other communities like Oakland are also moving forward with ordinances.”
Among other things, the Santa Clara County ordinance requires policies to be in place before surveillance technology is bought and activated.
Ozer urged other local communities to ask questions about license plate readers and what limitations are being placed on their use.
Earlier this week, California state senators voted to reconsider a bill, SB 712, that would allow drivers to cover their license plates when their vehicles are parked.