Lawsuit Unveils Allegations of DHS Misuse of AI Surveillance
A burgeoning lawsuit claims that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is employing artificial intelligence to identify bystanders recording federal immigration enforcement activities, subsequently incorporating those individuals into a covert database.
The lawsuit was initiated by two women from Maine, who assert that federal agents threatened to classify them as domestic terrorists merely for lawfully documenting the agents’ operations.
Included in the lawsuit is a video where a woman filming a federal immigration officer asserts, “It’s not illegal to record,” while questioning the officer about his apparent documentation of her information.
The agent retorts, “We have a nice little database. And now you’re considered a domestic terrorist, so have fun with that.”
This entire incident is meticulously chronicled in the lawsuit, alongside another incident in which a plaintiff was warned, “If you keep coming to things like this, you are going to be on a domestic terrorist watch list. Then we’re going to come to your house later tonight.”
Both plaintiffs allege that they faced retaliation from federal agents for exercising their First Amendment rights to observe and protest against immigration enforcement measures.
While the DHS has categorically denied the existence of such a database, it acknowledged its role in monitoring and investigating potential threats.
However, the parameters defining a “threat” remain ambiguous, as numerous instances have documented federal officials designating individuals protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies as “domestic terrorists,” despite any illegal activity.
Scripps News recently interviewed an organizer from Minneapolis, who noted a growing awareness among citizens regarding the tracking of personal information by federal authorities.
“There have been reports here in Minneapolis of federal agents stopping someone and calling them by name,” remarked Irna Landrum, senior campaigner on AI at Kairos Fellows.
“It absolutely creates this sense that I’m being watched, I’m being monitored. And I’m being watched and monitored as a potential threat and being named as a potential threat by my own government.”
The lawsuit emerges at a time when the DHS is aggressively augmenting its deployment of AI-driven surveillance technologies, including systems enabling real-time scanning of faces, license plates, and social media content.
This trend raises significant concerns, particularly given that tools initially intended for tracking non-citizens are now also being utilized to surveil U.S. citizens, including protesters and bystanders, without the requisite warrants.
Source link: Scrippsnews.com.
