How ICE is using facial recognition in Minnesota

January 27, 2026

TL;DR

Immigration enforcement agents are using a new smartphone app, Mobile Fortify, with facial recognition technology.
The app can scan faces and pull data from federal and state databases, some deemed inaccurate by federal courts.
The US Department of Homeland Security has used Mobile Fortify over 100,000 times in the field.
Legal experts and civil liberties groups express concerns about the accuracy of the technology, especially for people of color and women, and the potential for misidentification.
Protests, lawsuits, and proposed legislation are challenging the use of the app.
Illinois and Chicago have filed a lawsuit against the DHS, alleging the use of Mobile Fortify goes beyond congressional limits and involves scanning US citizens without consent.
Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to ban the DHS from using Mobile Fortify and similar apps, except at points of entry.
The DHS states that Mobile Fortify operates with a high matching threshold, queries limited datasets, and does not access open-source material or social media.
Concerns exist that ICE is using facial scans as a definitive determination of citizenship without additional vetting, leading to potential errors.
Some experts compare the app's use to "Kavanaugh stops," referencing a Supreme Court justice's opinion on using ethnicity as a factor for stops, and the ACLU has sued over alleged racial profiling.

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