No Funding for ICE Surveillance Tech!

UPDATE: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill has passed the House and advanced to the Senate. Senate Democrats say that in light of the murder of Alex Pretti, they won’t support the bill unless ICE implements reforms. But their proposed reforms would actually expand ICE surveillance through measures like more funding for body cameras – tools ICE officers are currently using to capture the faces of immigrants and protestors in order to intimidate and threaten them. These reforms are the opposite of what we need. Call your Senators now and tell them to vote no on the bill, and to oppose fake solutions like body cameras.

People in the U.S. agree: our government should not be spying on us. Yet ICE is doing just that. Even worse, the agency now has a 170 billion dollar budget, which is larger than the military budgets of most countries.

Democrats can stand up to ICE and defund the surveillance tech that is supercharging terror in our communities. But, they only have one shot to do so: the budget vote in January. They must vote NO on any funding for the the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until its ICE agency is abolished.

Make a call to your reps now using our call tool. You can also send a message to demand they block funding for ICE and its multi-billion dollar panopticon!

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“I am a constituent and I am calling to ask you to commit to vote NO on all funding for ICE and to oppose weak reforms like training and body camera requirements that will only expand ICE's surveillance.”

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Letter Text

Dear lawmakers,

Our government should not spy on us, yet right now, ICE is leveraging a multi-billion dollar panopticon to surveil and terrorize our communities.

There is a clear path to stop ICE surveillance in its tracks and also reject the executions of Renee Good, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, and Keith Porter, as well as the deaths of many other people who were shot or died in custody over the past year. Lawmakers need to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until its ICE agency is abolished.

A major part of the $170 billion in funding that ICE has received from the Trump Administration is being leveraged to supercharge ICE violence and intimidation using surveillance tech. DHS, ICE, and CBP are:

Building databases of biometrics, sensitive personal data, and daily movements of not only immigrants, but everybody in the US
Leveraging data to intimidate protesters
Tapping into a nationwide network of insecure & dangerous Flock and Amazon Ring doorbell cameras
Suing to end the ability to speak about ICE anonymously online
Purchasing technology to surveil all the phones in a neighborhood without a warrant
Recklessly relying on facial recognition technology that is banned in some states
Preparing to purchase and deploy AI drones that may be weapons-capable

Lawmakers must act immediately to stem the tide on ICE violence and the technology and data spending that help it spread. Communities across the country need a federal firewall as they catch up and dismantle the surveillance apparatus ICE is weaponizing by, among other things, canceling all contracts with Flock, enforcing privacy-preserving laws on Amazon Ring cameras, banning facial recognition by government and in places of public accommodation, ending private camera registries, and passing robust data privacy protections.

I urge you to do everything within your power in order to block ICE’s reign of terror in our communities and halt the build out of surveillance tech infrastructure that will make it impossible for everyday people to do anything at all without Big Brother watching. Milquetoast calls for better identification, bodycams, and training fall far short of what is required of you to meet this moment.

Sincerely,

Your Name

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Abolish ICE, period.

As a tech justice organization, Fight for the Future is focusing this campaign on the issues with ICE surveillance tech to lend our organizing capacity to wider calls for the total abolition of ICE. We encourage supporters to also join our friends in the immigration justice movement in their work: