- NEW: Records reviewed by WIRED show DHS’s facial recognition app (Mobile Fortify) isn’t designed to actually "verify" identity—despite DHS claims and its agents relying on its matches to support probable cause in the field.
Feb 5, 2026 20:29
- NEW: Records also show DHS rushed Mobile Fortify out after abandoning its own facial-recognition oversight rules. Central privacy review was sidelined under orders from a Project 2025–linked former Heritage Foundation lawyer now serving as DHS chief privacy officer. www.wired.com/story/cbp-ic...
- This is like a scene out of Monty Python. ICE agents get a name back from face recognition and multiple agents start calling out "Maria! Maria!" to see if a woman in custody reacts. (Presumably if she does that's a match???) It didn't work, so they ran the app again and got another name.
