The Department of Homeland Security is increasing its ability to scan irises as part of mass deportation efforts. DHS awarded a $25 million no-bid contract to BI2 Technologies, which specializes in iris scanning. The contract is more than five times the amount of the company’s prior DHS contract. DHS requested more than 1,500 iris scanners and access to BI2’s mobile app, including a database storing iris scans. Privacy experts raised concerns that biometric data is being gathered from people detained by the agency. DHS stated that ICE officers use iris recognition to help accurately identify individuals encountered during immigration enforcement and removal operations, including confirming identities and backgrounds. A detained person described a raid in which officers pointed a smartphone at her face to take a photo and asked her to open her eyes wide.
"The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its capacity to scan irises as part of its mass deportation efforts, a move that has raised concerns among privacy experts that the agency, flush with an influx of funding, is gathering biometric data from people it detains. The agency awarded a $25 million no-bid contract last week to BI2 Technologies, a company that specializes in iris scanning. The new contract is more than five times the amount of the company's last DHS contract, awarded last fall."
"As part of its proposal to the company, DHS requested more than 1,500 iris scanners, as well as access to the company's mobile app, including a database where iris scans are stored. Irises contain intricate patterns that are unique to each person, similar to a fingerprint. DHS declined an interview, but told NPR in a statement that ICE officers use iris recognition technology "to assist in accurately identifying individuals encountered during immigration enforcement and removal operations, including confirming identities and backgrounds of individuals who may be subject to enforcement actions.""
"One night last fall, she was with her husband and first grade son in her Chicago apartment when a Black Hawk helicopter filled with federal immigration officers descended on the building. "We were in our room. We were sleeping. When they knocked on the door, they were pointing guns at us and they ordered us to leave," Mejias told NPR, speaking through an interpreter provided by the University of Chicago Immigrants' Rights Clinic, which is representing Mejias in a complaint against the federal government. Mejias fainted during the raid."
"When she came to, officers pointed a smartphone at her face to take her photo, she says. She had been crying and her eyes were swollen. "They asked me to open my eyes wide for the ph""
Read at www.npr.org
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