--- title: "ICE Is Scanning Civilians’ Faces, Telling Them They’re Being Entered Into a Terrorism Database" description: "In case you needed further evidence that we're living in the worst version of a cyberpunk dystopia, immigration officers are now scanning civilians' faces to index them in a government database." date: "2026-01-24" modified: "2026-01-24" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ice-database-facial-scan" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Facial recognition" --- # ICE Is Scanning Civilians’ Faces, Telling Them They’re Being Entered Into a Terrorism Database ![There's compelling evidence immigration officers are scanning civilians' faces to add to a dystopian government database.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images* In case you needed further evidence that we're living in the worst version of a cyberpunk dystopia, immigration officers are now scanning civilians' faces to index them in a government database. Don't take our word for it — just listen to the officers themselves. A video shared by [freelance journalist Brian Allen]() appears to show a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent scan a couple's faces with his phone. "It's not illegal to record," the woman filming the ICE agents says after the agent points his phone at her. "Exactly, that's what we're doing," another officer says. "Why are you taking my information down?" the woman behind the camera asks. The officer responds: "because we have a nice little database, and now you're considered domestic terrorists." "For video taping you? Are you crazy?" the woman shoots back before the clip ends. https://twitter.com/allenanalysis/status/2014726554622816585?s=20 Whether the two were actually registered in an ICE database is unclear. But the agency is definitely using facial identification tech in at least some ways. Back in October of last year, [*404 Media* reported]() that ICE was scanning suspects' faces to check whether they were citizens, a development which Cato Institute senior fellow [Patrick Eddington warned at the time]() could cascade into a constitutional crisis. If what the officer in the video says is true, the agency may be using the tech for even further overreach. In a case [flagged by journalist Julie DiCaro](), a Minnesota woman [alleged in a legal filing]() that an ICE agent approached her vehicle as she was observing them, addressed her by name, and warned her that ICE had "facial recognition technology." Three days later, the woman says she received a notice that her Global Entry or TSA-Pre Check status had been revoked. **More on ICE:** *[ICE’s AI Tool Has Been a Complete Disaster]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()