The watchdog office for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an audit Feb. 4 into the department’s data practices, including those used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in response to serious concerns about potential data privacy abuses and the misuse of sensitive personal information.
The objective of the audit, entitled “DHS’ Security of Biometric Data and Personally Identifiable Information (PII),” is to determine how DHS and its components collect or obtain PII and biometric data related to immigration enforcement efforts and the extent to which that data is managed, shared, and secured in accordance with law, regulation, and department policy, according to Inspector General Joseph Cuffari.
The new audit follows pressure from U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats representing Virginia, who last month expressed concerns that DHS is collecting sensitive personal data that can be used to circumvent civil liberty protections, including those guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment.
“Within one week of receiving our letter, Inspector General Cuffari has initiated an audit to determine how ICE and other DHS components are collecting, storing, using, and sharing sensitive personal information, and if they are following the law when doing so,” the senators said in a Feb. 6 joint statement. “This is an important first step in investigating if Americans’ data is being misused.”
In a Jan. 29 letter sent to Cuffari, the senators wrote that the matter deserves immediate attention from Cuffari’s office, particularly after numerous media reports and videos show DHS immigration enforcement operations in cities and towns across the country potentially violating individuals’ civil rights, including on two separate occasions in which DHS law enforcement personnel — one working for ICE and the other for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — shot and killed American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Additionally, they wrote, ICE agents have shot and wounded another person and deployed flash bangs and teargas on a family, resulting in the hospitalization of small children, including a six-months-old baby.
“In addition to egregious practices we have seen in public reporting, it is important that your office shine light on activities that undergird ICE’s enforcement actions including a muddled patchwork of technology procurements that have significantly expanded DHS’ ability to collect, retain, and analyze information about Americans,” wrote Kaine and Warner.
In a Feb. 5 letter Cuffari sent the senators, he told them that the audit will address several of their questions, and he told them a copy of their letter has been forwarded to the Office of Audits for consideration as they plan and conduct their review.
“We appreciate the Inspector General’s recognition of the serious risk that unrestrained or illegal DHS activities pose to individuals and communities,” Kaine and Warner said. “Given DHS and the Trump administration’s unyielding infringement on constitutionally protected freedoms and violation of privacy rights under the pretense of immigration enforcement, this audit must be swift, thorough, and independent.
“We will monitor this audit closely to ensure that outcome,” they said.