YOUR CAR IS BEING TRACKED BY BORDER PATROL AND ICE

What’s happening?

A report in 404 Media just revealed that Customs and Border Patrol has had nearly unfettered access to more than 80,000 AI-powered cameras that scan vehicle license plates.

These cameras are owned and operated by the private surveillance company Flock, and can be found in thousands of communities across the US. Access to Flock’s sprawling surveillance network allows cops and federal agents to track and trace the movements of anyone who drives a car.

This camera network has already been tapped by law enforcement in Texas to hunt down a woman who self-administered an abortion, and by ICE agents who utilized local police departments’ Flock accounts to track immigrants and fuel the Trump administration’s unconstitutional mass deportation machine.

The recent reporting that CBP has secretly had access to these cameras for months – in violation of multiple state laws – shows how far the government is willing to go to expand its dragnet surveillance programs.

We need immediate action from lawmakers on the city, state, and federal levels, not just to address CBP’s illegal access of this surveillance network, but to ban automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) outright. ALPRs are dystopian, creepy, and will always be abused by those in power. Sign the petition to demand lawmakers ban license plate tracker from our communities immediately.

Shut it the Flock down.

According to company PR materials, Flock holds contracts with cities, police departments, home owners associations, and local businesses in 49 states.

Up until recently, Flock claimed that federal agencies couldn’t access their camera network. 404 Media revealed this isn’t true, and forced the company to acknowledge a “previously undisclosed program” that allows Border Patrol to send invitations to police departments nationwide for one-to-one data sharing. This confirms what we’ve always known: surveillance tech companies lie about what their tools can do, the harm they’re capable of, and who can access them.

We’ve opposed ALPRs and other spy tech like facial recognition from day one because we know surveillance doesn’t make us safer. Now that CBP – and undoubtedly other federal agencies – are using these tools to fuel Trump’s campaign of terror against immigrants and other targeted groups (abortion seekers, activists, LGBTQ+ folks), it’s more urgent than ever to kick ALPRs to the curb – and out of our streets completely.

A handful of cities are already leading the way in the fight against Flock by ending their contracts. These include Evanston, IL, Scarsdale, NY, Oak Park, IL, Guthrie, OK, Austin, TX, and Denver, CO. We need all lawmakers to take similar action: end all contracts with Flock and launch an investigation into the company’s role in fueling human rights abuses by ICE and CBP now!