Representative Adriano Espaillat Pushes Congressional Efforts to Curb Unchecked DHS Facial Recognition Surveillance

January 15, 2026

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, joined Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, to introduce legislation to rein in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) use of unproven mobile biometric surveillance technology and strengthen protections for American citizens’ privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deployed a mobile phone application known as Mobile Fortify to identify individuals by capturing facial images or fingerprints using a phone camera. The application is currently being used wantonly by ICE officers in the streets of our communities across the country – often on American citizens – while still in beta testing. This raises serious oversight concerns and should be troubling to all Americans.

“The Trump Administration has weaponized federal agencies against the American people. This latest effort to use facial recognition to further target immigrant families is reckless and dangerous,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat. “I’m proud to stand with Ranking Member Thompson to introduce legislation to combat ICE and DHS, prohibiting the use of facial recognition as yet another ruthless tactic to further this administration’s mass deportation agenda.”

The Realigning Mobile Phone Biometrics for American Privacy Protection Act would establish Department-wide standards and guidelines to significantly limit DHS’s use of mobile biometric identification tools and prevent their misuse outside lawful and appropriate contexts.

“When ICE claims that an image its snaps and runs through an unproven app can be enough evidence to detain people for possible deportation, no one is safe,” said Ranking Member Thompson. “ICE’s use of Mobile Fortify to determine a person’s legal status is an outrageous affront to the civil rights and civil liberties of U.S. citizens and immigrants alike. DHS should not be conducting surveillance by experimenting with Americans’ faces and fingerprints in the field—especially with unproven and biased technology. It is time to put an end to its widespread use. We can secure the Homeland and respect the rights and privacy of Americans at the same time.”

The Realigning Mobile Phone Biometrics for American Privacy Protection Act will:

Require DHS establish Department-wide standards and guidelines to better protect privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
Prohibit DHS from using Mobile Fortify – or similar apps – except for identification at ports of entry.
Prohibit DHS from sharing these apps outside of DHS.
Require these apps removed from DHS systems outside ports of entry and make them inoperable on non-DHS systems.
Require the destruction of any image, photograph, or fingerprint of a U.S. citizen captured previously by the app – and require destruction within 12 hours once proper guidelines are established.

In addition to Espaillat, the bill is originally cosponsored by Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Border Security & Enforcement; Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations & Accountability; Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; and Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

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Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the north-west Bronx. First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his fifth term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities and serves as Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the committee during the 119th Congress. He is Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), and serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/.

Media inquiries: Candace Person at Candace.Person@mail.house.gov