Trump expands government's use of facial recognition while 'erasing oversight policy'
Department of Homeland Security contracts with controversial tech firm banned from selling its software to law enforcement in Illinois, scooping up personal data on noncitizens and citizens alike.
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I’ve been warning since day one of the current Trump administration that this is a regime that is totally sold out to Big Tech and the surveillance state. On his first full day in office, on January 21, 2025, Trump showed us his first priority was to the expansion of the AI-powered surveillance infrastructure when he invited three of the most data-hungry Tech Bros to the White House to announce Operation Stargate, to raise half a trillion dollars to blanket the United States with AI data centers.
Then a couple of months later he signed the Genius Act, another technocratic game-changer that lays the groundwork for a digital, programmable currency.
Now, Trump is making it easier for Homeland Security to scan your likeness and store your personal data for up to 15 years.
Biometric Update reports that the Trump administration quietly erased a Department of Homeland Security policy on facial recognition from its public website while deepening its embrace of the controversial technology, including a multimillion-dollar contract with Clearview AI, a company legally barred from selling its software to law-enforcement agencies in Illinois.
Biometric Update notes that the ban stems from a landmark settlement under Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, a 2008 law that requires informed consent for the collection of biometric identifiers such as fingerprints or facial scans.
Below is an excerpt from the article:
The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups sued Clearview AI in 2020, arguing that its massive database of photographs scraped from social media platforms violated residents’ privacy rights.
The resulting settlement blocked most businesses and state or local law enforcement agencies in Illinois from using the technology, but did not block federal agencies, including DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Meanwhile, ICE has deployed a smartphone tool called Mobile Fortify which lets agents scan a person’s face or fingerprints during street encounters to verify identity and immigration status. Internal ICE documents state that persons photographed are not given “an opportunity to decline collection,” even if they are U.S. citizens.
Procurement records show ICE issued a purchase order to Clearview in September 2024 for forensic software services with a ceiling of about $1.1 million. A year later, this past September 5, the agency awarded a follow-on contract with an initial obligation of $3.75 million toward a total value reported at $9.2 million.
That award coincided with ICE’s “Midway Blitz,” a large-scale immigration enforcement operation across the Chicago area that continues today.
Independent reporting found ICE now holds “at least $3.6 million worth of contracts” with Clearview to provide software capable of matching names, social-media profiles, and other personal identifiers.
Federal contract databases also list Clearview agreements with the FBI (a $18,000 license), the U.S. Army (a $75,000 purchase order), the U.S. Marshals Service, and Customs and Border Protection.
In February, DHS removed from its website the text of Directive 026-11, Use of Face Recognition and Face Capture Technologies, issued in September 2023 under the Biden administration.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board’s (PCLOB) May 9 staff report, Use of Facial Recognition Technology by the Transportation Security Administration, noted the deletion and said, “DHS did not clarify whether DHS Directive 026-11 still applies to DHS components or whether there are specific plans to issue an updated policy that would address the same issues.”
The article goes on to explain that while Clearview deepens its ties to federal enforcement, ICE has also deployed the Mobile Fortify app.
A DHS Privacy Threshold Analysis obtained and reported by 404 Media shows the app draws on more than 200 million images across federal databases and stores new biometric data for 15 years.
While the “intended purpose of the Mobile Fortify Application is to identify aliens who are removable from the United States, users may use Mobile Fortify to collect information in identifiable form about individuals regardless of citizenship or immigration status,” the document states.
Continuing, the document says, “It is conceivable that a photo taken by an agent using the Mobile Fortify mobile application could be that of someone other than an alien, including U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.”
Read the entire article here.
Every day it's one step closer to the full implementation of the beast system. I run into many reactions to this reality. 1. Denial that it will arrive, or that it will arrive in one's lifetime. 2. False invincibility that we can somehow stop this. I think delay is possible. But we cannot stop Bible prophecy, it will come to pass. 3. That enough prepping will make us safe. Storing beans, bandaids, and bullets as they say. But you can never have enough food, first aid, and supplies stocked up. Even if you have a cellar full with every item of need for the next 100 years on an off grid homestead, a fire can still sweep through and claim it all. There are bunkers, but they are costly and not fool proof either. A comet can still crush all of it. When they come a-knockin', what good will all that do? And they will, if you know what I mean. Anyone will just take it for themselves. Then there are raiders. Sure you may have self defense, but you are still not a fortress with enough of it to protect against endless marauders should it all hit the fan. My best advice which I cannot afford is to get a stealthy underground camouflaged location that is stocked and barricaded so that no one knows anyone lives there. But most of us cannot afford that. 4. Jesus must be returning to rescue us before it all hits the fan.... maranatha!
Honestly the only thing that will really matter is if we are ready to die, are we saved, are we in right standing, all that sort of thing spiritually. That is all we can really control. But we can die tomorrow. All that will matter is our spiritual condition. You need to be right with God and not living an unrepentant lifestyle. Remember it says "those who practice such things (sin) will NOT inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 6; 9-11 and many more like it. Turn to Jesus today. You may have all the other ducks in a row but without this, you are not ready. If you have this and nothing else, you are ready!
I saw a video of 45 on the golf course some years ago. A man in the background said: “the 45th president!”
45 turned and said: “and the 47th too!”
So I understood that JB was tasked with being as bassackward horrible as he could be as an extreme pulling back on the bowstring. And QueMala was the thick icing on the top!
Our man was the arrow being launched at top speed like a super crossbow into having a monstrous mandate for unconditional whatever policy. (with occasional lubrication when needed).
That arrow launched just as Leo explained on the first full day in office. Certainly there are voices calling out the uniparty but no one is willing to admit that they were conned just like no one wants to admit that they were duped by the masked clown show mystery cocktail that was so safe and effective.
Shut up!! I didn’t get suckered at the carnival!