ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people • Hacker News Board

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#101

Post by 15155 » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:14 PM UTC

R_D_Olivaw wrote: post #97

15155 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> others consider it to be something much more serious. We have limited funds for social safety nets for our own citizens: how is it not "serious" that we would deplete them on folks who are willfully and intentionally breaking our rules for financial benefit?

My guy, stop with this false point. You're smarter than this. Deep down you know it's not true and it's not being used this way. Clean yourself and your soul.

What about it is false?

- Illegal immigrants make the choice to come to the United States for financial enrichment: jobs, handouts. Are you disputing this?

- The United States has a notoriously weak social safety net relative to other countries: this is not a disputed fact.

- We do not have an unlimited amount of resources: sorry, this is reality, not socialist fantasyland.

- Most US citizens do not cover their overall per capita government tax expenditures: illegals certainly don't.

Illegal immigrants are absolutely a net-negative financial, quality-of-life drain on society at large.

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#102

Post by goatlover » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

hwguy45 wrote: post #74

mlrtime wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately ICE has somewhat broad powers that allow them to enforce Federal laws that local LEOs cannot get away with. This should be challenged in a court.

Some say unfortunate, others say fortunate. It's a luxury belief to want to let people walk across the border and have no repercussions. Enforce the border, get all the illegals out.

Everyone in this country regardless of their status is still guaranteed due process by the Constitution. The Venezuelans and Abrego Garcia sent to CECOT was done without due process and in violation of a Federal Judge's orders. Not to mention CECOT is a horrible prison.

I think it's cruel and inhuman to deport people already here unless they're engaged in criminal activities. Most of them are hard working people who gave up everything to flee bad circumstances in their home countries. We're a nation of immigrants.

You want the border secure, fine (I would prefer immigration reform since we have a large country and tons of economic opportunity migrants fulfill). But don't be so cruel as to support what ICE is doing to hard working people who have established lives here. Most of them are not criminals.

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#103

Post by _vqpz » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

greenavocado wrote: post #91

mirzap wrote: post #45

We like to think surveillance is something you can turn on for one problem and turn off afterward. In practice, that never happens. Once the machinery is in place, it stays and looks for new work. Tools justified today by "illegal immigration" won’t stop there. They drift into credit scoring, health insurance pricing, hiring and firing decisions, school admissions, housing access, travel permissions, banking, welfare…

This specific point is addressed in a famous 1995 anti-technology essay by Ted Kaczynski. Specifically paragraphs: 127. A technological advance that appears not to threaten freedom often turns out to threaten it very seriously later on. ... 128. While technological progress AS A WHOLE continually narrows our sphere of freedom, each new technical advance CONSIDERED BY ITSELF appears to be desirable. ... 129. Another r…

Who ever said facial recognition wasn't going to threaten freedom? None of those points feel at all relevant or substantive to the topic of discussion

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#104

Post by _vqpz » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:20 PM UTC

dleary wrote: post #100

idiotsecant wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Nothing about this forum is distinguished. Are you being serious? It's just reddit for tech nerds with the same problems

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#105

Post by simianparrot » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:22 PM UTC

dleary wrote: post #100

idiotsecant wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

I think ad hominems are fine when the lunatic in question mail bombs and injures/murders innocent people. Like what the eff are you talking about!?

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#106

Post by goatlover » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:22 PM UTC

mapt wrote: post #87

Just a reminder that DHS just posted on Twitter for the holidays about how much of a paradise the US will be after 100 million "deportations". And that we don't have close to 100 million immigrants. That the "kavanaugh stop" allows them to detain you on he basis of skin color or accent. And that a driver's license with Real ID is no longer sufficient "papers".

That would be implementing remigration, meaning deport all the non-white folks. Never mind that whites are immigrants too and aren't indigenous to the Americas.

I don't understand how the American public allows this administration to get away with half the shit it says and does. Every week is a new scandal.

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#107

Post by rssoconnor » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:24 PM UTC

gorgoiler wrote: post #46

mirzap wrote: post #45

We like to think surveillance is something you can turn on for one problem and turn off afterward. In practice, that never happens. Once the machinery is in place, it stays and looks for new work. Tools justified today by "illegal immigration" won’t stop there. They drift into credit scoring, health insurance pricing, hiring and firing decisions, school admissions, housing access, travel permissions, banking, welfare…

That first sentence of yours really struck a chord with me. I tried to think of other examples: Cars — essential for leveraging time to travel longer distances and carrying multiple passengers and heavy loads; ens up being used by one person to drive three minutes to get coffee. Guns — to quickly précis a … complex topic: good guys, but also bad guys. Electricity — power generation goes up decade after decade, but so…

> I think the answer to the question “how do we stop technology X from destroying us?” lies in licensing and regulation enacted through legislation.

In the golden age of the 90's we were able to ban CFCs, but I'm skeptical we could do that today. We no longer have that political ability, and I doubt we will get it back any time soon.

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#108

Post by goatlover » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

expedition32 wrote: post #79

It's not the technology. The American people voted for this. That is the real discussion you should have. Why do Americans want fascism?

Some Americans. Trump won a plurality, not the majority vote, for those who bothered to vote. His approval rating is somewhere between 36% and 41% depending on the poll for the last several months. It's clear a decent number of the 77 million who voted for him didn't think he would behave the way he has in his 2nd term.

They didn't take Project 2025 or his alliance with the tech bros seriously. They didn't listen to former Trump officials who warned a second term would be a revenge tour and he would surround himself with loyalists and sycophants without anyone to hold his worst impulses in check. They didn't realize people like Stephen Miller would have such influence over his decisions. They didn't believe that Trump had such disregard for the rule of law and would actually prefer to rule like a king.

But people have been waking up to the new reality. Even some MAGA like MTG and podcasters like Rogan.

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#109

Post by FuturisticLover » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:29 PM UTC

fiyec30375 wrote: post #70

FuturisticLover wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US literary attacked a country and captured its leader. They always have a double standard.

Literary? Haha

I can't even ask for forgiveness for this diabolical.

Re: ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

#110

Post by otterley » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 2:31 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #23

otterley wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not supported by law where? I’m unaware of any legal proscription of this practice in the USA, and the Journal article makes no such claims, either. (IAAL but this is not my primary field of expertise, and this is not legal advice.)

There are many unresolved gray areas around what exactly the 4th amendment permits in the way of what United States v. Knotts called "dragnet-type law enforcement practices". Knotts suggested they might not be permitted, even if they were made up of permissible individual parts, but didn't elaborate. More recent case law has held, for example, that cell phone companies turning over large quantities of records is a 4t…

From what I understand, this isn’t so much a “dragnet” operation involving combing through mass quantities of records on demand; it’s more like “this person is in public in my field of view, and I want to know who they are.”

More importantly, though, the cases so far have focused on the investigative activity that follows once a suspect has been identified. Here, we’re talking about de-anonymization: identifying one or more individuals who occupy a public space. AFAIK, the Court has never established a reasonable expectation of privacy of one’s identity in public. That will be a steep hill to climb.