by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has dramatically expanded the use of mobile facial-recognition technology during President Donald Trump’s second term, allowing agents to identify suspected illegal immigrants within seconds and accelerating enforcement operations, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
The technology, known as Mobile Fortify, enables ICE officers to photograph a suspect with a smartphone and instantly verify identity and immigration status through multiple government databases. Until recently, such checks required time-consuming reviews across separate systems and often led to temporary detentions of individuals later found to be legally present or even U.S. citizens.
Officials say the new tool has made arrests faster and more accurate, reducing mistakes while enhancing public safety. With a $75 billion funding boost from Congress this summer, ICE has become the most heavily funded federal law-enforcement agency and is using the resources to advance President Trump’s pledge to carry out large-scale removals of criminal and illegal immigrants.
“President Trump’s core promise to the American people was to remove criminal and public-safety threats in large numbers,” said Chad Wolf, now chairman of homeland security and immigration at the America First Policy Institute. “These technologies provide federal law enforcement tools to make that challenge more manageable.”
The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, confirmed that Mobile Fortify is a lawful enforcement tool developed during the Trump administration to support accurate identity and immigration-status verification. DHS officials say the app returns only confirmed matches, filtering out uncertain results, and has already been used more than 100,000 times nationwide.
During a July operation in Florida observed by a Journal reporter, ICE officers used the app to identify two Guatemalan men stopped by a state trooper. One had previously been encountered by Border Patrol and issued a notice to appear in immigration court, officers said.
The app can access criminal and immigration databases containing records of prior border encounters and arrests. DHS disputes claims that it scrapes social media or open-source data, saying its use is governed by strict legal and privacy oversight.
Civil-liberties groups have raised alarms, arguing the technology enables widespread surveillance without consent. “It can be used to point at people in the street or in cars and scan their facial prints,” said American Civil Liberties Union policy counsel Kate Voigt.
Supporters of the program counter that the technology helps law enforcement focus on known offenders while minimizing wrongful detentions. They also note that facial-recognition tools were already used by the federal government under the Biden administration, including at airports and border crossings, despite earlier technical issues that were later corrected.
Mobile Fortify was initially developed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and limited to agents near the southern border. DHS lawyers had previously resisted broader use, citing legal risks. That position changed after Trump returned to office, clearing the way for nationwide deployment.
Administration officials argue the expanded use reflects a broader shift back to enforcement-first immigration policy, prioritizing border security, public safety, and the rule of law.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
At least 11 Christians were killed and 18 others seriously wounded when a drone operated by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) struck civilians traveling to Christmas celebrations in South Kordofan state on Dec. 25, according to local sources.
A Christian pastor was seriously injured after being attacked by a group of Muslim assailants wielding sharp objects in eastern Uganda, according to an exclusive report by Morning Star News.
Iranian security forces confronted large demonstrations at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar on Tuesday with tear gas and a heavy police presence, as nationwide protests entered a second week and the country’s currency plunged to a historic low.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers during a closed briefing Monday that recent White House rhetoric about Greenland does not signal an imminent U.S. invasion, emphasizing instead that the administration’s preferred goal is to purchase the island from Denmark, according to people familiar with the discussion.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Tuesday that a federal crime crackdown in the nation’s capital has led to dramatic reductions in violent crime, crediting the effort to President Donald Trump’s public safety initiative.
Israel, Syria and the United States have agreed to establish a new “joint fusion mechanism” aimed at enhancing security coordination, intelligence sharing and military de-escalation, marking the most significant formal cooperation between Jerusalem and Damascus in decades.
The White House marked the fifth anniversary of the January 6, 2021, Capitol breach by launching a new website aimed at challenging what it says is a Democrat-driven distortion of events and years of politically motivated prosecutions against Americans who participated in protests that day.