Video shows ICE violently arresting Oregon farm workers and using facial recognition
Exclusive: Body-cam footage shared with the Guardian shows agents forced workers out of a van in what a judge has called ‘unlawful’ arrest
TL;DR
- Body-camera footage from October 30, 2025, shows US immigration officers stopping a van of farm workers in Oregon.
- Agents smashed the van's windows and used facial recognition software to attempt identification of detained individuals.
- The operation is part of a class-action lawsuit challenging ICE's arrest tactics and alleged racial profiling.
- A federal judge later described the arrests as potentially unlawful and unjustified, and criticized the use of facial recognition technology.
- ICE agents used an app called Elite, developed by Palantir, to identify potential 'targets' and later used the DHS facial recognition app, Mobile Fortify.
- The van's occupants were carpooling to a job site, contrary to agents' suspicions of human trafficking or smuggling.
- One of the detained workers, MJMA, asserted her rights, requested a lawyer, and called 911, but her phone was reportedly broken by an agent.
- Four of the seven detained individuals were later deported.
- ICE claims its facial recognition tool, Mobile Fortify, is a lawful tool supporting identity verification and that Elite centralizes information from multiple federal agencies.
- DHS maintains officers use 'reasonable suspicion' and 'probable cause' for arrests and that the detained individuals were undocumented.