Drivers, Border Patrol Is Watching You Very Carefully: Report

The US Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, the AP has found. The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched, and, in some cases, arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going, and which route they took. Federal agents may then flag local law enforcement.

Drivers may then find themselves pulled over—often for reasons such as speeding, failure to signal, or even a dangling air freshener blocking the driver's view. The drivers are then aggressively questioned and searched. The AP investigation was based on interviews with eight former government officials with direct knowledge of the program, as well as dozens of federal, state, and local officials; attorneys; and privacy experts. The AP also reviewed thousands of pages of court and government documents, state grant and law enforcement data, and arrest reports.

The Border Patrol has for years hidden details of its license plate reader program, trying to keep any mention of the program out of court documents and police reports, former officials say, even going so far as to propose dropping charges rather than risk revealing any details about the placement and use of their covert license-plate readers. Readers are often disguised along highways in traffic safety equipment like drums and barrels. The Border Patrol has defined its own criteria for which drivers' behavior should be deemed suspicious or tied to drug or human trafficking, stopping people for anything from driving on backcountry roads to being in a rental car or making short trips to the border region.

The agency's network of cameras now extends along the southern border in Texas, Arizona, and California, and also monitors drivers traveling near the US-Canada border. And it reaches far into the interior, impacting people driving to and from large cities, and to and from the Mexican border region. Border Patrol's parent agency, US Customs and Border Protection, says it uses license plate readers to help identify threats and disrupt criminal networks and is "governed by a stringent, multilayered policy framework ... to ensure the technology is applied responsibly and for clearly defined security purposes." Much more here.