Former US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents call on lawmakers in Congress to ramp-up the use of surveillance technology and create an interoperable data sharing platform for immigration enforcement.
Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, held a hearing called, “Leveraging Technology to Strengthen Immigration Enforcement” with three former ICE employees and a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation testifying as expert witnesses.
Dr. Doug Gilmer, a retired senior law Enforcement advisor and assistant special agent in charge at ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), said that one tool that was very helpful to ICE was the EAGLE DirecteD Identification Environment (EDDIE) system, which was launched in 2015.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), EDDIE is a biometric collection device used in the field that “assists ICE agents and officers to lawfully collect an investigation subject’s fingerprints and photograph using a mobile device, and immediately query other government databases to determine if they contain the same fingerprints as those collected by ICE.”
However, in his last field assignment, Dr. Gilmer said that there were only five EDDIE devices available for his personnel.
“The EDDIE machine helps not only in enforcing immigration law, but it saves time; it aids in enforcement prioritization, reduces the chance of error, and also helps law enforcement rapidly identify suspects, and mitigate threats to safety”
Dr. Doug Gilmer spoken testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
“Using pattern-recognition algorithms that sort through vast oceans of data, this technology could provide invaluable results in real-world and time-sensitive scenarios. The technology could also be used alongside other monitoring systems, such as, body worn cameras, CCTV, drone footage, surveillance footage, social media, and more”
Dr. Doug Gilmer written testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
In his written testimony, Dr. Gilmer said that the EDDIE tool “can provide the true identity of an individual, a history of law enforcement encounters, help determine alienage and removability, and whether or not the person may have outstanding warrants.
“Tools like this should be provided to each Special Agent and Officer,” he added.
According to NextGov, EDDIE won the Most Innovative Application award at the 2015 ACT-IAC Mobile Application Fair.
“ICE uses EDDIE mobile fingerprinting to accelerate raids and deportations, but they disclose very little about their data sharing partners, such as other federal agencies, local law enforcement, and private companies”
Just Futures Law, ICE’S EDDIE PROGRAM: How ICE Uses Biometric Scanner Tech To Ramp Up Raids, November 2020
EDDIE has also been criticized by activists and “movement lawyer” groups like Just Futures Law of being “a key component of DHS’s militarized biometric collection enterprise that feeds into vast, secretive databases.”
In their November 2020 report, “ICE’S EDDIE PROGRAM: How ICE Uses Biometric Scanner Tech To Ramp Up Raids,” the “women of color-led immigration lawyering project” claims:
“As biometric data collection and analysis assumes a more central role in ICE’s portfolio of tech policing, we expect that more and more ICE agents will interrogate people in the field where abuse is most likely to occur but hardest to stop. Privacy protections are not sufficient to protect against profiling and abuse.”
“It’s difficult to get biometrics to lie […] Putting an EDDIE in front of somebody gets them to identify very quickly”
Dr. Doug Gilmer spoken testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
Getting back to the hearing, Dr. Gilmer testified today that “Facial and pattern recognition technology is one such tool with tremendous potential for solving crimes and recovering victims of exploitative crime; however, restrictions placed on its use are so tightly controlled, it is only used in a small percentage of cases.”
These restrictions on facial and pattern recognition technology, according to Dr. Gilmer, are due to fears over privacy by people who don’t understand the technology.
“There’s been a lot of fear that has been allowed to grow around that technology — I think often by people who don’t really understand the technology and don’t understand the fact that we can utilize that technology while also putting in proper safeguards to protect privacy, ethics, and civil rights“
Dr. Doug Gilmer spoken testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
“If we truly want to be forward leaning with technology to solve crime, then integrating DHS into network of strategically placed automated license plate readers (ALPRs), live video, gunshot detection, drones, and real-time policing software can provide critical investigative leads in cases of human trafficking, drug / illegal weapon smuggling, gang violence, and organized retail theft”
Dr. Doug Gilmer written testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
“We have advanced facial recognition technology, pattern matching technology that could be used to solve a vast array of crime and can be used to identify victims of crime,” said Dr. Gilmer.
However, “There’s been a lot of fear that has been allowed to grow around that technology — I think often by people who don’t really understand the technology and don’t understand the fact that we can utilize that technology while also putting in proper safeguards to protect privacy, ethics, and civil rights.”
One of Dr. Gilmer’s recommendation to lawmakers was to get rid of data silos, so that data can flow freely between government agencies and to leverage “security and privacy compliant AI to enhance identification of critical, time sensitive, law enforcement data.”
Dr Gilmer has a distinguished 35-year career in law enforcement, and he is now the president and CEO at Resolved Strategies, which consults organizations on issues such as human trafficking and exploitative crimes.
“High-risk situations call for innovative tools that minimize potential dangers for officers. Technologies like drones, anti-drone systems, and robotics are increasingly valuable”
John Fabbricatore written testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
Testifying in the same hearing was another former ICE employee, John Fabbricatore, who was a Senior Executive and Field Office Director at ICE’s Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO).
He, too, praised biometric devices like the EDDIE for allowing agents to “to collect and analyze unique physical characteristics for identification purposes,” and he also called for the creation of an agile data platform for agencies to share.
“ICE must have real-time data sharing capabilities with federal and state agencies to increase efficiency and improve targeting”
John Fabbricatore spoken testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
“Officers should be spending their time on the streets safeguarding our communities — not stuck behind desks rustling with disconnected, antiquated databases”
John Fabbricatore spoken testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
“The time to act is now. We need a new data platform that are agile, robust, and equipped with advanced machine learning and cloud-native capabilities,” said Fabbricatore.
“These systems can reveal unseen relationships, identify patterns, and provide actionable insights, giving agents the tools to target and apprehend with precision,” he added.
In his written testimony, Fabbricatore stated:
“Technology has been a game-changer in the realm of biometrics, allowing us to collect and analyze unique physical characteristics for identification purposes.
“Facial recognition technology, in particular, has become increasingly sophisticated and effective in identifying individuals who may pose a threat to national security or public safety.
“This type of technology has proven invaluable in disrupting human trafficking networks and preventing fraudulent entry into the country.”
Fabbricatore is currently a principal consultant at The Complete Solution Group, which provides consulting services on issues related to immigration, government liaison, and product development in the field of firearms and self-defense.
Today, he also testified that the Mexican drug cartels were profiting from the Customs and Border Protection CBP One app by using it to smuggle people into the US illegally.
“The cartels were actually using it [CBP One app] down in Mexico and having people sign up through them to get on the CBP One app […] The cartels were actually making money off of the CBP One app”
John Fabbricatore spoken testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
According to the CBP One fact sheet, “The free CBP One™ mobile application enables noncitizens without appropriate documents for admission who seek to travel to the United States through certain southwest border land ports of entry (POEs) the ability to submit information through a module within the application instead of coming directly to wait at a POE.”
Dr. Gilmer also testified that he saw misuse of the CBP One app during his tenure at ICE.
“Let’s be clear, this will not stop with immigrants. If they can do this to immigrants and asylum seekers, there’s nothing stopping them from doing it to American citizens as well”
Rep Yassamin Ansari, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, March 2025
Both lawmakers and witnesses alike took shots at the policies of the Trump and Biden regime approaches to handling immigration.
Some accused Biden of open border policies leading to horrendous crimes committed in the US while others accused Trump of inhumane treatment of migrants while expanding the use surveillance tech that could be turned on US citizens.
Representative Yassamin Ansari accused the the Trump administration of infringing on the civil liberties of migrants with surveillance technologies, but that it wouldn’t stop there:
“Let’s be clear, this will not stop with immigrants. If they can do this to immigrants and asylum seekers, there’s nothing stopping them from doing it to American citizens as well.”
You can watch the entire hearing, including testimony from the two witnesses that were not quoted in this story for the editorial sake of brevity and relevancy — former ICE employee Deborah Fleischaker and Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Simon Hankinson, here.
Image Source: “The EDDIE Machine” ICE.GOV
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