ICE is using facial-recognition technology to quickly arrest people

Comparison to China and Double Standards

• Many commenters note that similar surveillance in China was widely condemned, yet ICE’s use is becoming normalized in the US.
• Some call out “whataboutism” accusations as a way to dodge the uncomfortable parallel; others argue the US long pioneered similar control systems (credit scores, mass surveillance) before China.
• Debate over whether US use is meaningfully different because it’s (theoretically) tied to democratic law and “lawful arrests,” versus claims that US institutions already use law to pursue inhumane goals.

Legal and Constitutional Uncertainty

• Disagreement over whether ICE’s facial recognition is clearly legal:
  • Some say there’s no explicit federal ban and no settled case law.
  • Others point to state-level biometric privacy laws and prior class actions (e.g., against social media) as evidence of limits.
• Discussion of the 4th Amendment:
  • One side argues passive identification in public may not be a “search or seizure.”
  • Another stresses “dragnet” surveillance and de-anonymization as potentially unconstitutional and unresolved by courts.

Biometrics, Data Sources, and Gait Recognition

• Commenters speculate face/iris data may come from visas, DACA, airport scanners, and commercial data brokers; concern that “anyone who trusted the government” is in these databases.
• Examples given of biometric databases falling into hostile hands abroad.
• Gait recognition is described by some as maturing and hard to evade; others call it pseudoscience used as a pretext to target “undesirables.”

Surveillance Creep and Chilling Effects

• Strong concern that once built, surveillance infrastructures never shrink and inevitably expand far beyond immigration enforcement.
• Predictions that such systems will bleed into credit, employment, housing, health, and online speech, producing a “soft totalitarianism” via self-censorship and risk-avoidance.
• Cited research on how awareness of surveillance measurably reduces “sensitive” online searches and behavior.

Immigration, Costs, and Moral Conflict

• Long, heated subthread on whether undocumented immigrants are a net fiscal drain or net contributors, with both claims made and studies cited.
• Sharp divide between those prioritizing strict law enforcement and deportation, and those emphasizing due process, humanitarian obligations, and the historical “nation of immigrants” narrative.
• Some argue both lax border policy and harsh surveillance are products of dueling authoritarian tendencies, with the public’s polarization enabling both.

Authoritarianism, Policing, and Public Responsibility

• Several claim the US is now functionally fascist or a “turnkey police state”; others frame ICE as a symptom of deeper authoritarian attitudes among voters.
• Historical parallels drawn to civil-rights-era fingerprint dragnets and current cross-agency cooperation (ICE, FBI, DHS) as evidence that targeted minorities bear the brunt.