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Ali Velshi Explains The Surveillance Tools Ice is Using

The MS NOW host and Citizen board member talks with technology journalist Jacob Ward about how ICE is tracking us and the threat that represents to our free speech and due process

Listen

Ali Velshi Explains The Surveillance Tools Ice is Using

The MS NOW host and Citizen board member talks with technology journalist Jacob Ward about how ICE is tracking us and the threat that represents to our free speech and due process

BY Ali Velshi

Feb. 09, 2026

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ICE is now the most well-funded law enforcement agency in the country, and it’s spending that money on powerful surveillance tools: facial recognition software, phone location tracking, spyware, commercial data brokers, and drones are all being deployed against both immigrants and citizens. Ali Velshi explains how state-of-the-art surveillance technology is powering Trump’s mass deportation plans.

The DHS has drastically expanded the use of facial recognition, AI, and other “advanced technologies” in the past year, and questions from the public are met with statements that they will not divulge law enforcement’s “sensitive methods.”

We know, however, that these surveillance tools are being used to monitor protestors as well as attempt to track down and identify immigrants. Face recognition is highly inaccurate for people of color, with studies showing an error rate of 34.7 percent for darker-skinned women compared to just 0.8 percent for light-skinned men.

Unfortunately, may of the methods the federal government is using to track immigrants and protestors are things that we have allowed to happen by agreeing to having our data collected and used. While authorities need a warrant to get phone location data, ICE is making an end run around due process by purchasing user data from commercial brokers. Many of our movements and communications can be tracked across home, work, and everywhere in between because of how much access to our personal data we allow our smart devices.

We have exchanged our privacy for convenience, and as a result, a surveillance state has formed around us.

This week, Ali Velshi digs into the apps and tech ICE is using to create surveillance states in the cities they enter. Joining him is technology journalist Jacob Ward to discuss what these tools do, how they work, and why critics warn that these tools infringe upon the privacy and free speech rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.

LISTEN: VELSHI EXPLAINS THE DANGERS OF OUR DATA

 

WATCH: VELSHI AND WARD ON THE SURVEILLANCE STATE

 

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