Leaked DHS plan would push Mobile Fortify facial-recognition app to 1,300 local police departments

A leaked DHS document dated June 18, 2026, reveals plans to expand the Mobile Fortify facial-recognition app — already in field use by ICE task force officers — to roughly 1,300 local police agencies deputized under ICE’s Task Force Model. The app scans faces against a database of more than 250 million images built from State Department visa records and TSA airport records, and stores every photo it captures for 15 years regardless of immigration status or outcome. Privacy advocates warn the rollout would create a de facto domestic surveillance network capable of identifying any face at any public gathering, including U.S. citizens photographed at protests.

This is a distinct, later escalation from the November 2025 release of the related Mobile Identify app (2025-11-04–dhs-mobile-identify-facial-recognition-app): the new document shows DHS moving from agency-internal use to mass distribution across deputized local departments, fusing the biometric apparatus with the 287(g) deputization pipeline now backed by roughly $2 billion (2026-05-07–ice-287g-funding-pipeline-2-billion-local-police-deputization). Combined with the Palantir ICE surveillance contract (2026-02-19–dhs-signs-billion-dollar-palantir-ice-surveillance-contract), it extends the warehouse-datacenter-panopticon pattern: a 15-year retention rule sweeps citizens and noncitizens alike into a permanent identification dragnet. ACLU and EFF are the natural litigation challengers.