ACLU sues Immigration and Customs Enforcement for license plate reader records

Mobile license plate readers are mounted on the roof a police cruiser in Alameda, Calif. on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The Alameda City Council will vote on a plan to install license plate readers mounted on posts at all entry points into the island city. less Mobile license plate readers are mounted on the roof a police cruiser in Alameda, Calif. on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The Alameda City Council will vote on a plan to install license plate readers mounted on posts ... more Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close ACLU sues Immigration and Customs Enforcement for license plate reader records 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for records about the agency’s use of license-plate reader technology, after ICE apparently failed to turn over records after multiple requests.

In December, ICE purchased access to two databases of automated license-plate reader data, the complaint states. One of those databases is managed by Vigilant Solutions, which has contracts with more than two dozen Bay Area law enforcement agencies.

“We believe the other is managed by Thomson Reuters,” said Vasudha Talla, an ACLU attorney.

The ACLU and other privacy advocates have expressed concern about how the data will be stored and used for civil immigration enforcement.

In March, the ACLU filed two requests under the Freedom of Information Act seeking records from ICE, including contracts, memos, associated communications, training materials and audit logs. But ICE has not provided any records, the ACLU said in the complaint, which was filed last Tuesday in the District Court for the Northern District of California.

“The excessive collection and storing of this data in databases — which is then pooled and shared nationally — results in a systemic monitoring that chills the exercise of constitutional rights to free speech and association, as well as essential tasks such as driving to work, picking children up from school, and grocery shopping,” the complaint said.

“We have essentially two concerns: one that is general to ALPR databases and one that’s specific to this situation with ICE,” Talla said. “The ACLU has done a lot of work around surveillance technology and ALPR, and we’re generally concerned about the aggregation of all this data about license plates paired with a time and location, stretching back for so many months and years.”

The contract with ICE has heightened concerns about how the data might be used for immigration enforcement, perhaps with data collected by unknowing departments.

“There may be departments who didn’t realize at the time that this might be shared for civil immigration enforcement, who may have never intended to get in bed with ICE and now may have found themselves unknowingly in this situation,” Talla said.

In getting the contracts and other documents, she added, the ACLU seeks clarity on how the data are used, stored and shared.

Danielle Bennett, a spokeswoman for ICE, said the agency could not comment directly on pending litigation with the ACLU.

“However, lack of comment should not be construed as agreement with or stipulation to any of the allegations,” she said in a statement.

Bennett noted that ICE does use license-plate data to aid its investigations.

“ICE conducts both criminal investigations and civil immigration enforcement investigations,” she said. “ICE is not seeking to build a license plate reader database and will not collect nor contribute any data to a national public or private database.”

ICE updated its privacy impact assessment in 2015 for surveillance tools, and Bennett called the policies “the most stringent requirements known to have been applied for the use of this technology.”

Sophie Haigney is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney