DHS's AI surveillance arsenal expands, with the agency ignoring court rulings
DHS AI Surveillance Arsenal Grows as Agency Defies Courts
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's AI use case inventory released on January 28 shows its component agencies have deployed or are developing more than 200 AI use cases, an increase of nearly 40% from the previous disclosure in July 2025. ICE is the main driver of growth, adding 24 AI applications covering lead processing, social media and mobile device data review, and facial recognition identity verification, including products from Palantir. The ELITE tool in the inventory extracts addresses from records and warrants, and according to 404 Media, it also generates potential maps marking deportation targets; Mobile Fortify is a facial recognition and fingerprint matching application, which 404 Media documented misidentifying the same woman twice during an immigration raid. There are also large language model-based lead processing tools, and a Hurricane Score that assesses the risk of failing to report as required. Of the 238 use cases, 55 are designated as high impact, and risk management-related fields are empty in more than 80% of all records.
By comparing the DHS's two versions of its AI use case inventory, the article lists ICE's 24 new AI applications and the controversy over their high-risk designations.