From tax returns to DNA: Government surveillance of immigrants threatens all Americans

The surveillance equipment in this photo includes facial recognition and vehicle make, model, color and license plate reader. Photo credits: Maraparacc at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The U.S. government is increasingly using digital tools to track and surveil immigrants, according to privacy advocates who spoke at a recent briefing hosted by American Community Media. The event, titled "Expanding Surveillance of Immigrants at What Cost," highlighted how federal agencies are repurposing our sensitive personal data for immigration enforcement in ways that violate long-standing privacy protections.

Building a "Digital Watchtower"

Nicole Alvarez, senior policy analyst for Technology Policy at American Progress, shared the findings of her recent report to show how the current administration accesses federal records including Social Security numbers, medical records, immigration status, and tax returns to construct what she calls a "digital watchtower" on all American residents.

"This watchtower is a rapidly expanding system of surveillance that threatens not only the immigrant communities currently being targeted by this administration, but the privacy rights of all Americans," Alvarez said.

This data sharing violates the Privacy Act of 1974, which restricts the use of the information given to the federal government solely to the purpose for which it is given – a concept known as “purpose limitation.”

"We've seen the IRS sharing taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help identify and deport immigrants who have paid taxes in good faith," Alvarez explained. "This is a major shift, because this is not what these systems were built for."

Similarly, Medicaid enrollment records have been used to identify immigrants for deportation, effectively turning healthcare safety nets into surveillance pipelines. This represents "a major break from the long-standing norms of privacy and purpose limitation in public data use," according to Alvarez.

Consequences of Eroded Trust

When people see the government repurposing their information unpredictably, they begin to disengage from public systems and start “to opt out.”  Alvarez warned that people may avoid filing taxes, forego needed medical care or skip applying for benefits they're entitled to receive.

"When people disengage from public systems, those systems inherently become weaker, more unfair and less democratic," she said. "This makes it harder for agencies to serve communities effectively and ironically undermines long-term goals like fraud prevention and civic participation."

Once established, these surveillance systems can be turned against other groups — journalists, protesters, voters and everyday Americans.

Expanding Digital Dragnet

Emerald Tse, an associate at Georgetown Law School’s Center on Privacy and Technology  discussed two relevant reports from her organization: "American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century" and "Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing."

The 2022 "American Dragnet" report revealed that ICE uses digital surveillance to monitor the majority of people in the United States. The agency has gained access to information people provide for essential services — utility companies for water and electricity, and DMV records from driver's license applications.

Tse said that the government is also collecting DNA samples from thousands of people every single day to create profiles which are added to a federal policing database called CODIS. These files are used to identify people who have committed crimes and, now, the government’s DNA collection from immigrants, is being used to predict who might commit crimes in the future.

"These massive surveillance powers — whether personal, genetic, or biometric information — are now in the hands of an increasingly authoritarian government. We've seen that government already use those powers not only for immigration enforcement, but also for political repression,” she said.

Millions of dollars are being given to private companies to collect this data. For Tse, such growing surveillance puts everybody, not just immigrants, at risk and the current administration has already targeted people regardless of immigration status and used surveillance tools to suppress free speech and punish political dissent.

Social Media Monitoring and Border Searches

Sophia Cope, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s civil liberties team, spoke about the social media surveillance of immigrants and device searches at the border, which she said, not only impacts anyone wanting to come to the U.S legally but also America citizens, as well.

During the first Trump administration, the State Department added a question to visa applications that required applicants to give their social media handles. Federal officials can now approve or deny visas based on an applicants' social media activity.

"People are scrubbing their social media, choosing not to speak out on things, particularly political issues," Cope said. "Their loved ones who might be U.S. citizens are also being chilled because they don't want to risk having visa or immigration status revoked."

This self-censorship occurs despite First Amendment protections for speech that doesn't incite imminent violence or constitute true threats.

Alvarez highlighted what the public can do, when she said  that right now it's important to highlight that Americans deserve a full account, detailing how these systems were built and used. She said that congressional, independent and criminal investigations should be undertaken to uncover the extent of this administration's data consolidation and secondary data abuse… to determine whether federal agencies have violated the law and the public trust. Finally, she said that… we need to lean into modernizing the laws that we already have in place

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