A network of AI-powered license plate cameras, installed across more than 5,000 communities in the U.S., is being leveraged by federal immigration authorities through indirect pathways, according to a new report.

What Happened: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has no formal agreement with the camera provider Flock Safety, but internal data obtained and analyzed by 404 Media shows that local police departments are frequently conducting searches in the system for immigration-related purposes at ICE's request.

4,000 searches using Flock's ALPR (automatic license plate reader) system citing immigration-related reasons have been conducted, including entries explicitly labeled "ICE," "ICE+ERO," and "immigration violation," the report added.

The data, shared by anonymous researchers, confirms that departments from states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona conducted searches using the camera network at the Danville, Illinois Police Department, at times accessing more than 77,000 devices across the U.S.

"It's really important that people understand how this tech--which they pay for with tax dollars--is used," said a Flock insider to 404 Media. "Ultimately it's up to state and local governments to draw the boundaries of fair use by law enforcement."

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Why It Matters: In response to the report, some agencies claimed their searches were not immigration-related, despite labeling them as such. Notably, Illinois bans the use of ALPRs for immigration enforcement, yet searches tied to immigration were still conducted through its police departments.

Jay Stanley of the ACLU remarked, "There should be public conversations about what we want different agencies to be able to do. If this kind of informal backdoor access to surveillance devices is allowed, then there's functionally no limits to what systems ICE can tap into."

ICE's use of surveillance technology for immigration enforcement has long been a subject of public discourse. In April, Peter Thiel co-founded Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) has signed a $29.8 million contract with ICE to expand an existing agreement, concentrating on tracking visa overstays and self-deportations through a system called ImmigrationOS. Criticised for "building the infrastructure of the police state,” the company defended itself as working for “all sides of the political aisle.”

A new report this week says that the company is working with the Trump administration to collect personal data on American citizens from multiple federal agencies, raising concerns about privacy and the potential for misuse.

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