Department of Homeland Security

GAO Report Addresses DHS’ Unchecked Surveillance of Americans in Public Without Warrants

December 5, 2024

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) law enforcement agencies’ use of detection and monitoring technologies in public without warrants. DHS was found to use over 20 types of detection, observation, and monitoring technologies,

• Privacy in Public

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates

EPIC, Coalition Send Letter to DHS regarding $2 Million Contract with Paragon Solutions, Inc.

November 1, 2024

• Intelligence Surveillance

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates

DHS Disregards Internal Policies and Avoids Fourth Amendment Protections to Track Your Location

February 8, 2024

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published a report on DHS’ use of Commercial Telemetry Data (CTD). CTD, in brief, is data collected from mobile devices by private entities that can form a detailed timeline of the device’s location over the period of time contained in the dataset. The OIG report found that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the United States Secret Service (USSS) bought and used CTD in violation of their own meager internal privacy policies.

• Intelligence Surveillance

• Surveillance Oversight

• Analysis

EPIC Comments to DHS on Collecting Social Media Information in EVUS System

July 28, 2023

EPIC submitted comments opposing DHS's plan to collect social media information for continuous vetting of people who have already been granted a visa to visit the U.S. Social media information is of no value for vetting and prone to misinterpretation and biases.

• Democracy & Free Speech

• Privacy & Racial Justice

• Surveillance Oversight

• Traveler Screening & Border Surveillance

• APA Comments

New ICE Privacy Impact Assessment Shows All the Ways the Agency Fails to Protect Immigrants’ Privacy

April 20, 2023

ICE finally published a Privacy Impact Assessment for its massive Alternatives to Detention program surveilling immigrants waiting for court dates. Despite being 20 years late, the document fails to account for most of the harms of ICE surveillance and is already outdated.

• Surveillance Oversight

• Traveler Screening & Border Surveillance

• Analysis

EPIC, Coalition Urge DHS to Extend Comment Period on Massive Changes to Rules for Asylum Seekers

March 3, 2023

EPIC and a coalition of 172 national, state, and local immigration, policy, direct services, and privacy organizations urged the Department of Homeland Security to extend a short 30-day deadline for comments on a rulemaking that makes substantial changes to the process for seeking asylum in the U.S.

• Surveillance Oversight

• Traveler Screening & Border Surveillance

• Updates

Sen. Wyden Reveals Secret DHS Program Collecting Millions of Money-Transfer Records

March 10, 2022

• Government Databases

• Surveillance Oversight

• Traveler Screening & Border Surveillance

• Updates

EPIC Comments to DHS: Advance Collection of Photos at the Border

November 30, 2021

• Face Surveillance & Biometrics

• Surveillance Oversight

• Traveler Screening & Border Surveillance

• APA Comments

Agency Information Collection Activities: Public Perceptions of Emerging Technologies

July 12, 2021

• Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights

• Face Surveillance & Biometrics

• Government AI Use

• Surveillance Oversight

• APA Comments

Meeting of the DHS Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee May 14, 2021 – Information Sharing Authorization Agreements

May 16, 2021

• Government Databases

• Surveillance Oversight

• APA Comments