Georgia’s Ministry of Driver Services has shared information, including facial recognition searches, about the state’s residents with immigration authorities, according to data obtained from an open-file request.
Between September 2017 and last June, the department processed more than 250 requests from immigration and customs enforcement and other agencies “to gather and share information about hundreds of immigrants living in Georgia,” advocacy groups said Wednesday.
The Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Project South and Innovation Law Lab said based on the data they received, it appeared that the department complied with ICE’s requests “without any supporting evidence to support the request.”
“I find it alarming that the Department of Rider Services does not even require any kind of proof, any kind of administrative order, any kind of court order or imprisonment before it releases vital information like people’s place of residence and driver’s license photos,” Priyanka Bhatt , said a Project South staff attorney.
“It is also alarming that Georgian law goes so far and allows this,” Bhatt said. “Law enforcement agencies or ICE don’t even need to have a really good reason to get this information, they need an alleged belief that illegal activity may be taking place, and that is such an awfully low bar.”
ICE has been sued over allegations it failed to release records of data collection, including facial recognition searches, and the agency said it could not comment on pending litigation.
However, the agency said it “does not routinely use facial recognition technology to enforce civilian immigration regulations.”
“ICE’s use of facial recognition technology is used primarily by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents investigating child exploitation, human trafficking and other cases investigated by HSI special agents,” the agency said. “HSI’s work to combat online child sexual exploitation and human trafficking is widely recognized by law enforcement agencies around the world, and facial recognition technology is critical in identifying the perpetrators of these crimes.”
Georgia’s Department of Driver’s Services said it shares data with law enforcement agencies in response to specific requests related to law enforcement matters, but said ICE did not request, and DDS did not grant, access to the Georgia driver’s license database.
Vân Huynh, GLAHR community advisor, said the type of information the department shared with ICE included people’s place of residence, information about their driver’s licenses, their photographs, vehicle information and documents submitted when applying for the driver’s licenses.
The group also found three requests to run information through facial recognition software.
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They wrote in a statement that in one case, an officer sent several photos found on an individual’s Facebook page to the department. The agency then processes these images through its facial recognition software.
Huynh said privacy concerns aside, facial recognition software isn’t always accurate, especially with people of color, and this could lead to false positives.
There have also been incidents where ICE was wrong about whom it was detaining or wrongly detaining US citizens, she said.
“The likelihood of ICE being wrong and searching the information of people, people who are US citizens, I think is also very high because they have access to that information,” Huynh said.
Georgia does not provide licenses to undocumented immigrants, but the searches would largely target citizens and persons with certain legal status, as well as DACA recipients and persons seeking facilitation in immigration procedures, said Huynh.
Ariel Prado, who heads the Defend Asylum program at the Innovation Law Lab, said there are also many stories of immigrants being jailed for things like having a much older drunk driving and although they have not had any errors since then.
Georgia is the latest state known to be sharing information with immigration officials after previous filing requests revealed several other driver’s license agencies are working with ICE.
Last month, the Washington Post reported that ICE was allowed to use facial recognition to search millions of driver’s licenses in Maryland without first obtaining state approval in a state that grants special driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
A senior Maryland official told state lawmakers in November that ICE had logged nearly 100 meetings in the state’s database since 2018, according to an unpublished letter obtained by the newspaper.
In July, public records inquiries revealed that ICE had requested data in at least three states that also offer driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants: Utah, Vermont and Washington. Utah and Vermont complied with those requests, and it was unclear whether Washington complied with the search requests.
“There was much more outrage from legislators and officials at how extensively ICE uses database tapping without the public’s knowledge and without any restrictions,” Huynh said.
Prado said that as some states discuss extending driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, “reform efforts should be made to ensure people’s privacy is protected.”
“We want people to be aware of that,” he said.
