Private companies in California may report illegal immigration to the police

The work of a private company with immigration authorities raises concerns that the data may be used to track undocumented buyers.

Фото: Depositphotos

According to a new report, California malls are sending license plate data to a privately held video surveillance technology company that cooperates with the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE).

A new study, the results of which were published this week, shows that private companies influence immigration policies and benefit from expanding partnerships with ICE.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) found that the Irvine Company, a development company that manages dozens of shopping centers throughout California, monitors vehicle license plate readings for Vigilant Solutions, a database company that works with law enforcement. Automated license plate recognition technology allows cameras to take images with a sign and link them to GPS locations.

Earlier this year, US officials confirmed that ICE had signed a contract with Vigilant. According to him, the firm will provide immigration authorities with access to the company's extensive database during investigations. This information has caused protests over privacy concerns. Vigilant declined to comment on its relationship with ICE.

After the EFF released its report Tuesday, Irvine officials said the data "was shared with local police departments only." A spokesperson told the Guardian that the technology was used at three Southern California malls - the Irvine Spectrum Center in Irvine, Fashion Island in Newport Beach and Market Place in Tustin.

Dave Maass, the author of the EFF report, told the Guardian that he was skeptical about the claims of the Irvine Company, which had previously revealed little detail about his surveillance efforts.

“I was concerned that this would be used to track suspected undocumented people in real time,” said Dave Maass, the report's author.

It’s hard to know if a Vigilant contract really protects customer data from transferring information to ICE.

Maass noted that in the past, some firms claimed that they only shared data with the local police, but later it turned out that this concerns the local internal security offices (DHS), that is, they work with ICE. Even liberal Californian refugee cities that limited cooperation with ICE also found themselves at work with federal immigration authorities.

In addition to shopping centers, there is growing concern about how license plate tracking can affect immigrant communities, Maass said.

Some municipalities have rejected Vigilant contracts because of their relationship with ICE.

The ACLU sued the federal agency for more information on how it uses the license plate database.

Vigilant did not initially respond to the request, but after the publication of this article a long statement came out threatening to file a lawsuit against a non-profit organization.

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