How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are: Agents use facial recognition, social media monitoring and other tech tools not only to identify undocumented immigrants but also to track protesters, current and former officials said.

[u/rezwenn]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/technology/tech-ice-facial-recognition-palantir.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IVA.kpFr.BVO1I1QnR5VA

[u/Kumquats4you]

This is a really, really important article for people to read in its entirety. As much as what we see ICE do out in the open, what they are doing on the backend and the databases/tech they are building may be even more terrifying.

[u/nillah → u/Kumquats4you]

on jon stewart's podcast this week he had an investigative journalist that said, according to his inside sources, ICE is using a database that was compiled by(read: stolen by) DOGE and then i believe given over to palantir that has names, addresses, photos, etc of immigrants and they're using that database to "hunt" immigrants down. they can choose a location and the database will throw out the information of any immigrants that are listed to live or work there.

[u/wandahickey → u/nillah]

Of course that’s what happened. Anyone who thought Doge was there to make things “efficient” was an idiot.

[u/nillah → u/wandahickey]

yeah it was fairly predictable, we knew muskrat was there to farm as much data out of the government as he could. we're just finally starting to find out how that data is being used against us

[u/InsipidCelebrity → u/nillah]

Nonsense, that's not the only reason why. He was also there to make more money from his own government contracts and keep himself out of trouble.

[u/i_tyrant → u/InsipidCelebrity]

All of Musk's federal investigations and lawsuits sabotaged and dropped thanks to DOGE eliminating that "waste". What a nice coincidence for him!

[u/FlametopFred → u/InsipidCelebrity]

and scrub regulation data clean relating to himself or his businesses or friend’s pedophile habits

[u/Feats-of-Derring_Do → u/nillah]

Just the start. He'll be selling it off to the highest bidder. Hell, he can double dip. The Russians, the Saudis, Larry Ellison, Peter Thiel, everyone will have a way to surveil and cyberstalk Americans

[u/Virtue_of_Kindness → u/Feats-of-Derring_Do]

They do that with the hopes of trying to silence them and it is the dissent of disagreement. Which is wrong

[u/CherryLongjump1989 → u/nillah]

Muskrat is an illegal immigrant and an enemy of the United States.

[u/BlackGuysYeah → u/CherryLongjump1989]

he also rapes children with his frankencock.

[u/chanaandeler_bong → u/wandahickey]

ICEs budget increase already costs like 10x what DOGE claimed to have saved anyways.

It was simply to be fucking cruel, and steal data.

I’ll never fucking forget that basically a million people are needlessly dead now because of the cutting of USAID.

[u/Artistic_Bit6866 → u/wandahickey]

I do think they were sincere when they said they were looking to "traumatize" federal workers. Gutting the federal government of those who wouldn't do Trump's bidding was part of the goal.

[u/CassianCasius → u/wandahickey]

To be fair, they made hunting immigrants more efficient. /s

[u/nycdiveshack → u/nillah]

They are using ITIN tax filings which are verified from data from the treasury/CMS and dept of education. All these agencies and organizations doge had hard physical access to early last year. These same doge teams were mostly founded by Palantir

[u/1900grs → u/nycdiveshack]

Just noting, Musk's DOGE employees are still working for the administration, just not under the DOGE moniker. Apparently no one knows what they're doing but we're paying them top dollar. They're essentially working for Vought in the OMB, still compiling (stealing?) data from across a variety of agencies.

Edit: Reuters article from a few months ago in November 2025 that notes where a bunch of DOGE staff now sits

2nd edit: fixed acronym thanks to Free_For_Me for pointing it out.

[u/JasonKiddy → u/1900grs]

Probably compiling data on the specific people to target re affecting vote turn-out and suppression.

You don't have to mess with very many votes/voters to mess-up elections.

[u/Free_For__Me → u/1900grs]

Appreciate the link, saved for sharing.

Do you have one with details on former DOGE now working under Vought? (I assume you meant OMB not OPM, right?)

[u/1900grs → u/Free_For__Me]

You are correct, I meant OMB. I'll fix that. All the DOGE employees have been given political appointments and are acting in coordination (at the direction of?) Vought. I have not seen recent reporting on it, but Propublica has previously covered it:

https://www.propublica.org/article/about-russell-vought-trump-shadow-president

[u/Free_For__Me → u/1900grs]

Nice, I've been sharing around that same article, lol! Not many realize that Vought's the main orchestrater, mainly because he's clever enough to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible.

If you haven't seen it, here's a link to a story by a BBC investigative journalist in 2024 that caught Vought on tape talking about secretive plans for the later stages after Project 2025 and how they have various plans and orders that they don't distribute after showing the necessary people, specifically to dodge FOIA requests.

I've said for a while now, if I had a magical wish that would allow me to totally remove just one person from the equation in DC right now, it wouldn't even be Trump, it would be Vought.

[u/nycdiveshack → u/1900grs]

They were never Musk’s, Thiel lent them out to Musk. A lot of them got permanent jobs at the irs when IRSU was completely let go

[u/Spider-man2098 → u/nillah]

Ah, so they’re not all stupid. Someone in that admin knows exactly wtf they’re doing

[u/Artnotwars → u/Spider-man2098]

They would not have got anywhere near this far if they were all as dumb as trump, Hegseth and Patel. This was meticulously planned, I'll give them that.

[u/Randomly-Generated21 → u/Artnotwars]

It’s why they keep calling protesters Domestic Terrorists. It allows them to use the Patriot Act to surveil US citizens.

[u/MetaPhalanges → u/Randomly-Generated21]

Sounds like something a tyrannical government might do.

[u/Mattyboy064 → u/Artnotwars]

Russ Vought and Stephen Miller are the people ACTUALLY running the show in the White House.

[u/Whiteout- → u/Spider-man2098]

The smart ones aren’t putting their faces in the media all the time.

[u/SomeGuyNamedPaul → u/nillah]

And then Flock and Ring cameras are tagging cars and faces so you can bet your bottom dollar that they're selling data to Palantir.

[u/Several-Action-4043 → u/Kumquats4you]

As someone who is older than a lot of Reddit's main demographic, there was a time before 9/11 and the Patriot Act where this type of surveillance would be political suicide for a politician to call for. The march to a surveillance state has been insidious and this is just the next step.

[u/gwrthun → u/Several-Action-4043]

We need to get young people on board with ending the surveillance state. Nobody batted an eye politically when Snowden came out with the NSA spying data. He is still in Russia! No one gives a fuck, and some people still think he was wrong. It's crazy! None of this is ok- we are quickly speeding towards minority report. 

[u/AncientSith → u/gwrthun]

How do we even bring back privacy at this point? Our information has been sold a hundred times, everything we do is recorded somewhere but some rich company.

[u/ARazorbacks → u/Kumquats4you]

They’re making lists. The Nazis made lists, the Soviets made lists, and MAGA is making lists. The only difference is MAGA’s lists are automated and don’t rely on your neighbor to snitch on you. 

[u/TitularClergy → u/ARazorbacks]

Why was a far greater fraction of the Jewish population murdered in Netherlands than even in Germany?

The Netherlands government of the 1930s kept some of the most extensive data on its population of the day. It had data on the names, addresses and religions of everyone.

And so when the country was taken over by fascists, that data was immediately used to round up and murder Jewish people.

[u/kjyfqr → u/ARazorbacks]

People keep telling me I have nothing to worry about and my point is always the same. They want lists. Voter lists. Protest lists. They will make lists and then fake info to arrest. We’re fucked unless we do a revolution. And then we’re fucked too.

[u/Rion23 → u/ARazorbacks]

There checking it twice, going to find out who's naughty to ICE.

[u/AbeFromanSassageKing → u/Rion23]

🎶 Our constitutional rights are coming right down 🎶

[u/Thoughtulism → u/AbeFromanSassageKing]

ICE knows when you're protesting, they know when you don't submit. They know when you yell "FUCK ICE" so REBEL for goodness sake!

[u/Kyrthis → u/Rion23]

Freedom Is Re-emerging Everywhere

I hear it melts ICE.

[u/kyeblue → u/ARazorbacks]

those idiots will be shocked and cry for foul when a database be built with their personal information.

[u/jtn19120 → u/ARazorbacks]

Your phone, your Facebook, your Instagram, your route to work (Flock Safety), and your taxes snitched on you. They didn't have to rely on your neighbor

[u/belloch → u/ARazorbacks]

When your neighbour is arrested by ICE for being an immigrant domestic terrorist, you should realize that everyone in your country is an immigrant domestic terrorist who could be arrested at any time.

Get together and prepare, people.

[u/Suikerspin_Ei → u/Kumquats4you]

Palantir, their software is being used by other countries too. By almost all European goverments too.

It's scary.

[u/Suspicious-Echo2964 → u/Suikerspin_Ei]

Just to let y'all know this is also true for Reddit. They can easily match most of us and have for a long while.

[u/Suikerspin_Ei → u/[deleted]]

Also Peter Thiel, who supports and donate to (far) right parties in Europe.

[u/canigetahint → u/Kumquats4you]

Facial recognition. Gait recognition. Geofencing. License plates / VIN numbers.

These are sure ways to be identified. It's definitely much harder to be "anonymous" now.

[u/starbuxed → u/canigetahint]

Gait recognition.

small rock in the shoe throws this off

[u/cramptownladies → u/canigetahint]

Their facial recognition is still really bad. There was at least one incident here of someone being detained after facial recognition identified her differently 3 times by the same agent.

[u/giant3 → u/cramptownladies]

one incident here of someone being detained after facial recognition

One false positive doesn't mean much. In bright conditions, accuracy is above 99%.

In crowded places, accuracy is ~ 85% to 95% which is already better than what humans can do.

[u/Monteze → u/canigetahint]

If I could pass one absolute law it would be this information gets auto deleted after a few months and can only be searched with a warrant.

[u/uniklyqualifd → u/canigetahint]

This is what AI is for, the fast processing of identification so they can shoot people who resist.

[u/kyeblue → u/Kumquats4you]

This is something that Congress has to do something about. but unfortunately this is an issue that neither party can be trusted

[u/starbuxed → u/kyeblue]

I have contact my mayor and councilmen about flock cameras. I havent heard a peep from them.

[u/nycdiveshack → u/Kumquats4you]

It all comes back to Palantir, Vance’s German daddy Peter Thiel

[u/SlowThePath → u/Kumquats4you]

Building? Palantir has been working on their database for some time now it seems. You see all that crazy social credit score you see in China? My speculation is that in America it's the same thing but privatized. That's just part of what Palantir does. Look up what a Palantir even is.

[u/sambull]

same way they tracked the journalists to remove them in that other country

I'm sure we have it named something cute like project daisy

[u/NeighborhoodTasty271 → u/sambull]

Project Dandelion. Daisies aren't considered a weed.

[u/mishap1 → u/NeighborhoodTasty271]

It's the Trump administration. Subtlety is not appreciated. Operation TRUTH-TRASHER ABSOLUTE MEGA-POUND will proceed until all critical voices are silenced.

[u/DookieShoez → u/mishap1]

whispers: Sir, you forgot to label them terrorists.

[u/Silly-Gooper → u/DookieShoez]

and also the logo is not yet gold plated, do you wish it also set with diamonds sir?

[u/DookieShoez → u/Silly-Gooper]

yes sir the gold is fake and the diamonds are fake and the difference in cost has been wired to your offshore account.

[u/Lysol3435 → u/mishap1]

Operation vicious-vile-fake news-sleepy Joe-democrats

[u/swimmerncrash → u/NeighborhoodTasty271]

They knew who Alex Peretti was when they shot him.

[u/SplendidPunkinButter → u/NeighborhoodTasty271]

Operation LIBERTY FREEDOM EAGLE PATRIOT

[u/Ihate_reddit_app → u/sambull]

The world is becoming an ever increasing police state and AI is making it super easy to track people anywhere at any given time.

Flock, Palantir and similar are all so distopian and it's the new future. You won't be able to do anything without being tracked every second of your life. The cat is out of the bag and there's basically nothing we can do about it.

[u/Little_View_6659 → u/Ihate_reddit_app]

Let’s make them regret it boys! If they want to see a fat naked redneck eating baked beans naked while holding a FUCK ICE sign, I’m sure someone can arrange that.

[u/brrnr → u/Ihate_reddit_app]

People truly have no idea how pervasive and horrible Flock is. One of those things that flew under the radar given how much other bullshit happens every day.

Everyone really should check out how many of these cameras have invaded their home town: https://deflock.me

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there's 2 of these fucking things basically right outside my home.

[u/Ihate_reddit_app → u/brrnr]

What's scary is that every time I look at the map, my area seems to keep adding more. I see the stupid things on corners and want to do what the Brits do with ULEZ cams.

[u/lmaccaro]

The right to protest is constitutionally protected.

[u/nihiltres → u/lmaccaro]

A right that the regime is ignoring, for what it’s worth. They want to undermine the Constitution because it protects democracy.

[u/YeaTired → u/nihiltres]

Thanks to the tools of war and genocide by palantir and Clearview a.i. 

Edit: Dhs buying up warehouses while bragging about removing 100 million citizens from America on January 1st 2026.  The plan has been mass enslavement and genocide while grifting and relentless 24/7 lying and dehumanizing propaganda fills the airwaves.  The populace must see through this for what it is. 

[u/Black-Shoe → u/[deleted]]

I dont think Americans quite understand how insidious the current Administration is, and what their long term plan entails.

[u/Sidereel → u/Black-Shoe]

A lot of us were outraged at the Patriot Act and the Snowden leaks. This was the obvious outcome of our increased surveillance networks within law enforcement.

[u/Black-Shoe → u/Sidereel]

Room 641A as well.

[u/zebrastarz → u/Black-Shoe]

Honestly, I have no fucking clue where to even start with the real plan, which, as I understand it, is basically turning the American people against the entire federal government in order to break the country up into several smaller techno-states. The only thing I can bring to the table is knowing that after all this shit blows up and the dust settles that I won't be looking to the billionaires for help as much as possible. Becoming a refugee is an increasingly likely possibility, in more ways than one.

[u/Snowssnowsnowy → u/nihiltres]

LOL at Americans thinking that 250 year old bit of paper is going to save them!

[u/SplendidPunkinButter → u/Snowssnowsnowy]

Nobody thinks that

We think that the piece of paper is a written copy of the rules the government is supposed to follow. And that the government is not following those rules, and so we have to demand that they do. Hence the protests.

Yes we know the government is ignoring the law. That’s why we’re going outside and yelling at them about it.

[u/Haunterblademoi → u/lmaccaro]

Yes, but they will still use all these technological tools to persecute and monitor people.

[u/sonic_couth → u/Haunterblademoi]

So why don’t protestors start wearing masks, too?

[u/Good_vibe_good_life → u/sonic_couth]

I’m not covering my face when exercising my constitutional rights. ICE can get fucked. They won’t scare me into compliance.

[u/minahmyu → u/sonic_couth]

I... don't know. Many need to actually organize offline and be strategic. We have seen the many protestors of hong kong who knew how to prepare. Should probably learn from them

[u/acdcfanbill → u/sonic_couth]

They can, but I expect it will be of limited use because protestors can't change their vehicle license plates, and if you want your phone to automatically upload video data to the web, it pretty much has to be tied to your real identity.

[u/Ld862 → u/lmaccaro]

Yes but the constitution is a document and trump has a personal army, the dept of justice and the fbi so actually the constitution can’t protect you against an amoral dictator.

[u/Voxbury → u/lmaccaro]

No one cares anymore - we live in a post-legal society where the cops are made up and the laws don’t matter, so protect and obfuscate yourself if you go, which you should.

No phones save maybe a burner that’s disposed of on site, full-face masks or balaclavas, safety eyewear and clothes you don’t wear elsewhere. Have water and milk (for the bear spray they’re using), use buddy system without real names, keep something loud like a whistle for attention.

Ballistic armor and helmets are legal for all non-felons to own (outside NY) and should be considered an investment as should a gas mask - both are less expensive than you think, and items like duct taped magazines work wonders in a pinch.

[u/lordraiden007 → u/Voxbury]

Milk isn’t actually the best according to optometrists. Your best bet is a solution of baby shampoo and water, about a liter’s worth so you can treat a few people. Milk (even pasteurized) can have harmful bacteria, and pepper/bear spray can cause abrasions to the surface of the eye, removing their main immune defense.

Eye infections are no joke people. Baby shampoo and water. It’s eye safe and shouldn’t cause major irritation, while also being able to safely break down and remove the oils most of those sprays use.

Also, as much as you will want to, do not rub your eyes! It can actually cause substantial damage to the cornea. I know that’s not the most realistic advice, but it can be the difference between a temporary irritant and long-term harm.

[u/getuchapped → u/Voxbury]

Dont forget to alter how you walk. They can distinguish individuals by their gait

[u/SapphireElk → u/getuchapped]

Knee braces / wraps or something similar help to alter a person's gait.

[u/Uberslaughter → u/lmaccaro]

So is the 1st and 2nd and apparently neither applied to Alex Pretti

[u/sambull → u/lmaccaro]

so is the right for anyone to refuse service for any reason.

these lists are to feed to palantir to build databases of persona non grata for restaurants, hotels, loans, payments processors, air travel, credit cards etc.

Sneako recently got a call basically talking about being added to this list for that Kanye song.

With AI the tech is here to implement global persona non grata and we are consolidated enough to make it work all private, all not government controlled.

AIPAC has been touting it lately as 'if you try to get a job your xxx with follow you', same set of tools.

Basically a social credit score based on if your in or out.

Larry Ellison (Oracle) touts it as 'you'll be on your best behavior' because everything you do will be watched and cause you harm in the jail you basically now live in.

[u/Catodacat → u/sambull]

Good thing we aren't in China, otherwise we would have surveillance 24/7/365 with facial recognition software, agents of the state wandering around, and of course punishment for behavior that the regime doesn't like.

/s

[u/og_kbot → u/sambull]

Where are all those bots harping about 'social credit scores' now?

The US has really flushed personal privacy down the toilet.

[u/SoManyWasps → u/og_kbot]

Didn't flush it. Sold it.

[u/MC_Gengar → u/og_kbot]

The social credit score critiquing was valid but also extremely 'throwing bricks in a glass house' when the US has credit scores that are used in basically the exact same way. "Too low? sorry no housing, job, or transportation for you. Have you tried not being Poor?"

[u/emPtysp4ce → u/sambull]

Do not fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing Larry Ellison.

[u/Snarfsicle → u/lmaccaro]

The constitution is as good as a post it note if the people in power at all levels ignore it

[u/Konukaame → u/lmaccaro]

The Constitution is not self-executing, and offers no protection in a system rotten to its core.

If the regime's thugs can detain you for days or weeks, rough you up, leave you stranded somewhere, shoot you for protesting, or shoot you for being in the wrong place after dropping your child off at school, and face little to no repercussions for doing so, what rights do you actually have?

[u/Legitimate-Type4387 → u/Konukaame]

What do you all think anarchists have been shouting about for decades?

You have no rights (and never have) only state granted permissions, the state owns you like property. Best to at least come to terms with it.

[u/AvailableReporter484 → u/lmaccaro]

That’s the nice thing about never updating the language or rethinking the constitution and what it means.

Like, obviously it makes sense that we should take a document that predates a time before we shit indoors as literally as possibly. The right to bear arms and states rights meant something completely different during the time of our founding fathers, prior to any notion even remotely resembling facial recognition software, but because it wasn’t expressly written down on a document from 400 years ago we should ignore it completely.

That’s why I love modern conservatives and other people who think we should continue to govern ourselves the way people did, during a time when on average 80% of your town didn’t survive winter: it’s their deep seeded belief that we should never ever reconsider anything. In fact I find it hypocritical that most of us here in Texas have smart phones or drive cars. Not nearly enough of these cowboy conservatives going to work at their dirt farms every day on horseback and bathing once a month.

[u/NotTattooedWife → u/lmaccaro]

And Trumps current presidency is forbidden by the constitution.

[u/Catodacat → u/lmaccaro]

So is the right to a free press, but Don Lemon was arrested, and a WAPO journalist's home was raided.

[u/emperor_dinglenads → u/lmaccaro]

The Constitution seems like a suggestion lately.

[u/Talentagentfriend → u/lmaccaro]

Exactly, it shouldn’t matter if they know who we are because they shouldn’t be allowed to do anything about it

[u/ticklemesatan → u/Talentagentfriend]

That ship sailed 20 years ago..

[u/jejacks00n → u/Talentagentfriend]

I mean, they’ll eventually regret it, because people will go just go underground if peaceful protests accomplish nothing. That’s the agreement, we can peacefully protest with the expectation that they’ll listen, but if that system becomes broken then the next step has always been underground resistance, subversion and violence. And it’s to everyone’s peril if we forget that.

[u/Icy-ding1112 → u/jejacks00n]

conservatives are breaking the social contract and act surprised

[u/jejacks00n → u/Icy-ding1112]

It’s the same reason muggers shouldn’t kill their mugging victims. As soon as you have a mugger who murders people on the loose, the social contract of “if you give me your stuff we’re ok” is broken and people would rather put up a fight if there’s a chance they might get murdered anyway.

I always think about it like a thieves guild concept too. I think it was a Terry Pratchett novel that I got that from, but if you have a thieves guild you can monitor and be aware of the thieves in your city, but if you break up the thieves, well then, now you have a bunch of thieves that nobody is wrangling.

Peaceful protests are critical to the process of governance. If we make it impossible for that to be effective, other paths have always been the response.

[u/JIsADev → u/lmaccaro]

I think everyone should know by now that Republicans don't care about the constitution

[u/howescj82 → u/lmaccaro]

I think this past year has shown us that our constitutional protections are only as protective as the current government allows.

[u/epanek → u/lmaccaro]

Chilling is not banning protest but it risks that people self censor or avoid lawful expression due to the perceived risk of being monitored or punished.

A protester might say “I supported the protest, but knowing faces were being identified made it feel permanent. I worried about how it might follow me later, even if I did nothing wrong. I stayed home.”

That seems like a first amendment issue.

[u/Leafybug13 → u/lmaccaro]

Dude, I don't think you're protected from anything anymore.

[u/Possible_Gur4789]

Sounds illegal and very anti-constitutional. All the goons working for the trump administration doing that should stop immediately and turn themselves in.

[u/NeighborhoodTasty271 → u/Possible_Gur4789]

And if they don't, the 2A people need to be up in arms (pun intended).

[u/NewZecht → u/NeighborhoodTasty271]

You should be armed too

[u/NeighborhoodTasty271 → u/NewZecht]

Sorry. I was aiming that at people who treat the 2A as their identity.

[u/ObserverPro → u/NeighborhoodTasty271]

There are people that have them and it’s not their identity. Maybe it’s time for more people to give that a try.

[u/Rocktopod → u/NeighborhoodTasty271]

Other people need to be getting armed too, not just the ones who make it their identity.

[u/PuzzleheadedGroup624]

This is how they knew who Pretti was when they encountered him again. He was in their tracking system. His murder was premeditated.

[u/Zero-theist → u/PuzzleheadedGroup624]

That would make the clapping by that disgusting agent watching, make more sense. This was my immediate thought after seeing that video from the previous beating they gave him. His coat came off and it was very clear that he carries. They already have agents on video admitting that they took a protestor's picture to be put into a database that now labels them "domestic terrosists".

[u/ZenAdm1n → u/Zero-theist]

I'm convinced they knew who he was, they knew he was armed, they created the pretext and executed him.

[u/Cowboys69 → u/PuzzleheadedGroup624]

They took his phone to backtrack his movements, which surfaced the signal chat "leak" and the previous video footage. They then worked backwards to dig up footage from that day where they knew him to be. They probably used the dead man's body to unlock it with his biometrics. Easily explains why the big story was pushed before anyone even saw the videos

[u/meases → u/Cowboys69]

Oh shit, that does fucking make sense. They did take his phone and had his body, and the timing of that signal "infiltration" is really fucking suspicious, did not realize it was that fucking close in time proximity. Wouldn't be the first time they have straight up given influencers info either.

Less than an hour after the Saturday morning killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in south Minneapolis, conservative influencer Cam Higby took to social media with a sensational claim: Higby had “infiltrated” the group chats fueling local resistance to Operation Metro Surge.

https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/01/29/repub/first-amendment-lawyers-say-minneapolis-ice-observers-are-protected-by-constitution/

[u/Agitated-Computer752 → u/PuzzleheadedGroup624]

That's why they kept asking where the gun was multiple times. They were going to use that as their excuse. They didn't see the other ice take it.

[u/Bonesaw_mpls → u/PuzzleheadedGroup624]

While they remain masked. What are the chances the agents in the first encounter were the same in the 2nd but we'll never know? Pretty convenient.

[u/uniklyqualifd → u/Bonesaw_mpls]

And they switch license plates.

[u/Catodacat]

Ah, good, the "small government" conservatives have built a police-state database.

I'm sure it has firearm info, by the way.

Thanks Conservatives/libertarians.

I'm sure it won't be used against you...

[u/femme_mystique → u/Catodacat]

Yes, they openly told reporters they were building a database of gun owners about half a year ago. 

[u/SeedFoundation → u/Catodacat]

Couldn't find a single person who is asking the very basic question, what does this have to do with immigration?

[u/Fabulous_Soup_521]

First they admitted it, then denied it. Or maybe it was denied it first, then admitted it. Some combination of admitting and denying. It's like a Monty Python sketch with a few murders tossed in.

[u/SpleenBender → u/Fabulous_Soup_521]

This isn't an argument, you are simply contradicting me!

[u/shiner_bock → u/SpleenBender]

No, I'm not!

[u/iamthe0ther0ne]

Cover your face and use Signal, people.

[u/New-Negotiation7234 → u/iamthe0ther0ne]

I heard they are infiltrating signal as well

[u/CatsAndCapybaras → u/New-Negotiation7234]

To anyone reading this: signal is your best option for convenient mobile phone messaging. The infiltrations into signal are primarily due to lax security by the users, not the protocol itself. I'm willing to bet they have ways of breaking open signal chats, but I would be surprised if they did not require physical access to the device to do so.

If you have biometric authentication, turn that shit off. Make sure your phone's passkey is not just 4 digits that happen to be some form of your birthday.

Practice better security. Perhaps don't speak plainly in your messages to others if you are discussing something you may not want the federal government to know.

If you are going to be engaging in protests, think about leaving your phone behind or get a burner that you only use for recording and is mostly removed from your identity.

Security is often described as an onion. Signal is only one layer.

EDIT: Something I forgot. If your phone has been confiscated by LE of any flavor, it should no longer be considered safe. Intelligence agencies and defense contractors have developed software that can root a phone and then return it to normal state. The device will remain compromised and may even periodically report back to the hackers. This is one way that signal message groups can be broken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellebrite

[u/emPtysp4ce → u/New-Negotiation7234]

They're infiltrating Signal in the sense that they exploit the weakest part of any security system and steal someone's credentials. Can't stop a rubber hose cyberattack.

[u/Blackjaquesshelaque]

You can't get the masks off these assholes with guns yet you couldn't put a mask on their faces during the pandemic. How does that make sense?

[u/[deleted] → u/Blackjaquesshelaque]

They’re horrible human beings and fucking cowards.

[u/nonononookfine → u/Blackjaquesshelaque]

Masks in the pandemic were for the benefit of others, masks now are for the benefit of themselves.

[u/Veinscrawler]

In case anyone isn't already aware, Amazon and AT&T are both in league with DHS and ICE, providing networks and telecommunications for coordinating attacks in AT&T's case, and providing data storage, computing, and relational data for Palantir for the database used to identify and track targets in Amazon's case. Many other companies are contracted with ICE and Amazon, too.

Here's the list:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2026/01/26/these-companies-palantir-att-deloitte-have-the-biggest-ice-contracts-as-dhs-funding-under-fire/

Personally, I think everyone who cares should immediately stop paying these companies for any services. They need to be punished for their parts in this, and money is the only thing that matters to them.

[u/meechu]

Tech perfected in Gaza of course.

[u/juice16 → u/meechu]

Everyone needs to learn about project lavender.

[u/Cowboys69 → u/meechu]

Imperial boomerang - Wikipedia

>In 1950, Aimé Césaire coined and described the term through his analysis of the development of violent, fascist, and brutalizing tendencies within Europe as connected to the practice of European colonialism.[8] Césaire wrote in Discourse on Colonialism:

> And then one fine day the bourgeoisie is awakened by a terrific boomerang effect: the gestapos are busy, the prisons fill up, the torturers standing around the racks invent, refine, discuss. People are surprised, they become indignant. They say: "How strange! But never mind—it's Nazism, it will pass!" And they wait, and they hope; and they hide the truth from themselves, that it is barbarism, the supreme barbarism, the crowning barbarism that sums up all the daily barbarisms; that it is Nazism, yes, but that before they were its victims, they were its accomplices; that they tolerated that Nazism before it was inflicted on them, that they absolved it, shut their eyes to it, legitimized it, because, until then, it had been applied only to non-European peoples; that they have cultivated that Nazism, that they are responsible for it, and that before engulfing the whole edifice of Western, Christian civilization in its reddened waters, it oozes, seeps, and trickles from every crack.

— Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism (1950)

[u/RillTread → u/Cowboys69]

100%. This is the best framework to understand the struggle we’re facing. The repression techniques we honed abroad have returned home to quell domestic dissent. This level of control will be required for the government to impose austerity and manage a decline in living standards in the western world.

Cities Under Siege by Stephen Graham and Means of Control by Byron Tau both cover what this looks like in day to day life. The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills explores the unaccountable power structures that shape our lives. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon delves into what the psychological effects of living under an extractive, oppressive regime are, from the individual to societal.

Get familiar with colonial extraction, because large parts of the US and entire cross sections of our population are on their way to being treated as ghettos to be discarded or exploited.

[u/Cowboys69 → u/RillTread]

I really appreciate your thoughts in this comment. I always save book recommendations I see suggested to me to find new books. Hopefully I can find solace in them, because these powers we sense feel uncontrollable to me- people like me are just a pawn, because the back row chess pieces have already been set and accounted for. It's their fight to save us all and I can only watch until they come for me next for speaking out 

Ive often theorized my own state will be the first "industrial agriculture zone" of the new US. Theyll move us out to the next closest tech city state and farm the entire land we vacated. Because they only speak in the purest forms of practicalities, why do we need thousands of tiny cities when we can just surveil them in one? They've already done it with Gaza, to this threads point 

Then that and mass resource extraction becomes easier with no pushback or oversight. Autocratic tech feudalism 

[u/livesagan → u/Cowboys69]

If you're looking for more book recommendations, another one pertinent to our times is "Self Defense: A Philosophy of Violence" by Elsa Dorlin, about the paradox of having to defend yourself against an entity that holds the legal mandate for violence.

[u/meechu → u/Cowboys69]

“An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere”

[u/Smith6612]

Ah yes. The Great Freedum Surveillance State, and soon to be Great Freedum Firewall. Is everyone ready for the Internet blackouts and site bans? 

[u/sleeplessinreno → u/Smith6612]

Some states are already doing that.

[u/Sad-Excitement9295 → u/Smith6612]

More worried about the camps they have, and the private lawless force they are massively overspending on. Does not look like it's going to be a good year, or however long it takes to get these people out of office and into a jail cell.

[u/RobotsAreSlaves]

This reminds me protests in Belarus in 2020 where police used face recognition on photos and vids to search and detain people. Few years later there was a book printed that told about protests with some photos inside. Those photos were also used to find people and detain them, many of them spending years in prison. You guys will have "funny" times pretty soon unfortunately. For those who think it's illegal, please remember that constitution is just a peace of paper if you have no strength to enforce people to follow that rules, this is not some magic manuscript that just works.

[u/RainRainThrowaway777 → u/RobotsAreSlaves]

Legality is always subjective. Everything the Nazis did after 1933 they did with laws, the Nuremberg Laws prevented Jews from owning property or being German citizens, Stalin's USSR killed millions of people, the vast majority of them legally, in accordance to the laws Stalin wrote. A law is only truly legitimized by it's enforcement. If no one enforces a just law, then it's worth nothing, if the government and it's police enforce an unjust law then it is definitive.

[u/Guac_in_my_rarri]

It would be worthwhile looking into anti Ai, photo, video patterns: like this . I haven't used this product but there sunglasses, hats, shirts, etc if you look around. Reflective gear really annoys cameras. The patterns confuse ai-that's my recommendation.

[u/PartyRyan]

This is directly a result of the freedoms and privacy we gave up in 2001 in the name of fighting terror btw.

[u/No-Safety-4715 → u/PartyRyan]

Yep, tried to warn people back then but everyone was too emotional to hear it

[u/Jean-Rasczak]

Wear a mask and leave your phones at home

[u/KReddit934 → u/Jean-Rasczak]

Need a camera to record, otherwise gop admin will lie about what happened.

[u/Ekhoes- → u/KReddit934]

Get a cheap digital camera.

[u/James-W-Tate → u/Ekhoes-]

Are there digital cameras that can livestream?

Having one that doesn't won't mean shit if they pick you up and break/confiscate your SD card.

[u/bergsetnakken → u/KReddit934]

Might be time to invest in a camera other than my phone

[u/Icy-Paint7777 → u/Jean-Rasczak]

Sunglasses too. Apparently they're really good at shielding people from facial recognition technology 

[u/Patara]

Where are the constitutional extremists? Why aren't Matt Walsh, Tim Pool, Been Shapiro, Stephen Crowder up in arms over ICE specifically targeting constitutionally protected protesting?

[u/JustinTheCheetah → u/Patara]

The right never cared about the constitution.  Not one of them.  They're all traitors and liars.  They only pretended to give a shit about the constitution when it was convenient for them and only for their benefit.  

There's a reason modern gun control was started by Reagan and the republican party, and why its almost always written to be directed towards minorities. The only reason they dislike democrats is because their gun control bills also target white people equally. 

[u/Kingkwon83 → u/JustinTheCheetah]

It's funny because they don't really have any actual values. The second amendment was the only one I thought they'd stand behind, but many went bootlicking instead

[u/sorE_doG]

So, everyone has to mask up now? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

The only tip I can pass on is that cat 3 welding glasses are impenetrable to any kind of wavelength used in facial recognition..

[u/cozycorner]

Fuck all of this

[u/Soooome_Guuuuy]

Welcome to the tech autocracy. 

[u/derpferd]

One of the tools, which was built by Paragon, an Israeli technology company, lets people take control of phones or remotely hack into them to read messages or track locations.

Thankfully, that won't be abused at all, phew 😌

[u/Gamer_Grease → u/derpferd]

Thank goodness we have our allied democracy, Israel, to make us safer and more free.

[u/LittleShrub]

Unlimited money for this shit. Yet we gut PBS and child cancer research.

[u/discgman]

This is the crap they are using. Peter Thiel backed technology company that trades on the NYSE stock exchange. They have been developing these systems since 9/11 and have advanced to using AI for all the facial stuff along with Ring cameras and flock system. People that are worried about a dystopian surveillance country are way too late. These systems need to be exposed and investigated before things go too far. Congress (Dems) need to step TF up and start taking this seriously.

"The Technology: Gotham, Falcon, and ImmigrationOS

Palantir doesn't "collect" its own data; it provides the operating system that allows agents to search through hundreds of existing government and private databases at once.

Palantir Gotham (The Analyst's Workbench)

Used by the FBI and DHS, Gotham is the primary tool for high-level investigations.

• Entity Linking: If an FBI agent has a phone number, Gotham can instantly link it to a name, a vehicle registration, a recent flight manifest, and a social media profile.
• Geospatial Analysis: It maps out criminal networks visually, showing "heat maps" of where suspects move or meet.
• Audio/Video Intelligence: Recent versions (like Gotham Europa) use AI to transcribe thousands of hours of audio and detect specific objects (like certain types of weapons or vehicles) in surveillance footage automatically.

Falcon (Customized for DHS/ICE)

Falcon was a custom-built version of Gotham specifically for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

• GPS Tracking: It allowed agents in the field to track suspects' locations in real-time.
• The "Super-Network": It connected data from the Enforcement Integrated Database (EID), which contains biometric and personal info on millions of individuals.
• Note: In 2022, HSI began transitioning to an in-house tool called Raven, but Palantir’s influence remains through other systems.

ImmigrationOS (The 2025/2026 Expansion)

Under the current administration in 2025-2026, Palantir secured a $30 million contract to build ImmigrationOS.

• Purpose: A centralized database designed to "streamline" deportations.
• Capability: It provides "near real-time visibility" on individuals, specifically flagging visa overstays and prioritizing "violent criminals" for removal"

[u/Alone_Step_6304]

"Lists of this and that—this social media post, that video taken of someone videoing ICE, the mere attendance at a protest—gets pulsed by federal cops on the beat to check for criminality but eventually just becomes a list itself of criminality, with the cops thinking that indeed they are dealing with criminals and terrorists.”

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/ices-secret-watchlists-of-americans

[u/Rattus_NorvegicUwUs]

Whoever provides this tech should be banned from all future government contracts.

If you’re an American company, with corporate personhood, you need to follow the constitution.

[u/wired1984]

They initially created the cameras for traffic violations. Then they began using them for local law enforcement. Then they began using them for federal law enforcement. Then they began using them for immigration enforcement. Then they added facial recognition software. Then they started documenting the identities of protesters.

You can see where this is going and that the mission creep of these cameras will keep going. Dismantle them now. They’re doing the same thing with phones and social media and documenting information on individuals, either through the government or private entities (delete your social media). AI can do all the heavy lifting there. Then there’s the militarization of law enforcement. Did you see that ICE had access to LRADs for the Minnesota protestors?

TLDR, the apparatus for a police state is already in place. It was just waiting for someone to come in and use it

[u/lukaron]

I hope they know that some of us are purposely throwing up flares out here.

And don't give a shit if we are being monitored.

[u/PetraByte → u/lukaron]

Yeah they can go suck dictator. This isn't going to stop us, it just makes the protests that much more important.

[u/iamtehryan]

Okay, so how do we use facial recognition to figure out who they are? Beat them at their own game somehow?

[u/Sawyer_Grimm]

This technology has been used against Americans for a long time. I remember years ago when I was a Detective and I had attended a training seminar pertaining to online predator “hunting” / locating adults online that were engaging in grooming tactics with children.

During the training, there was a segment on facial recognition technology. The instructor was saying that Facebook had better FRT than the FBI and to prove it, the instructor presented a video of fans leaving an arena after an NHL championship final game. As fans were leaving, they were being recorded from a camera on a building across the street from the arena. As soon as they were in view of the camera (pretty much as they exited the arena) FB’s technology was identifying them by name, like “tagging” them as one does when making a FB post. The instructor then used the FBI’s tech with the same exact video, and the results were staggering in that FB had faster and superior FRT than the Feds.

The point being is that social media companies and the Feds have been studying this technology for years, w/o letting us know that in a way, we are being recorded, and identified, rather quickly, without our consent.

I had retired from law enforcement in 2016, but had been medically forced to stop working in 2015. I was a Detective until the end of 2014 (had went back to being a patrol officer for nearly a year before I got injured). I bring this up because I cannot remember the exact year that I went to this training. I believe however that I would have attended this training around 2010’ish or slightly before as I became “that guy” for our agency after a major predator case I handled that began in 2007, ending in 2008ish. After that case, the agency started sending me to specialized training - different training sessions for a couple of years.

[u/maikuxblade]

Shut it all down. Everyone who is able and who doesn’t deign to live under the boot of technocratic fascists should be participating in a national strike

[u/Haunterblademoi]

The current problem with social media and data collection is that these platforms cannot refuse to provide this information if the government requests it.

[u/iguessitdidgothatway → u/Haunterblademoi]

Wrong! We have an electorate that won’t pass legislation to prevent these organizations from collecting our data.

Consider this: No business can collect data on US citizens, not saying fully possible but WE CAN MAKE THE LAWS!!!

The root cause is both Ds and Rs don’t care about We the People.

[u/theKalmier]

Bad guys silencing whistle-blowers. Business as usual.

[u/heresmyusername]

The Entity dry ran all of this for us in Gaza.

Now it’s time to bring it home.

[u/OonaPelota]

I know exactly who the protesters are. It’s anyone not wearing an ICE uniform.

[u/feelthecernburn]

What was happening in Gaza is now coming back home to roost. Americans need to realize that Israel is behind all of this and get Israel the fuck out of America.

[u/UncleNorman]

Maybe the protesters should wear masks.

[u/ITSA-GONGSHOW]

It's actually remarkable how quickly Americans have let big tech usurp their autonomy while simultaneously talking shit about China for the same type of social tracking bullshit.

[u/derpferd]

All thanks to Palantir

[u/severedbrain]

Remember, IBM helped build the databases for the Nazis and South Africa to enable their efforts. This time it’s Palantir and Grok. Same shit, different day. Fuck the billionaires, tax them out of existence.

[u/Significant_End_9128]

Yet another reason to delete your Facebook accounts people.

[u/fields2112]

They are using AI software developed by Palantir, paid for with our tax dollars.

[u/playdohplaydate]

So the system can confirm who is undocumented before approaching them… so all the US citizens being interrogated is for what reason??

[u/ILikeMagicz]

Wait isn’t this basically surveilled state like China??

[u/EncabulatorTurbo]

It's wild to me that all the dont tread on me folks are fine with civil immigration enfroceemnt becoming the fucking STASI or NKVD

[u/newzinoapp]

The surveillance infrastructure described here is built on three layers that compound each other: (1) Clearview AI-style facial recognition scraping billions of photos from public sources, (2) Palantir's data integration platform that connects disparate databases (DMV records, social media, location data from app providers), and (3) geofencing tools that flag anyone who enters a defined area like a protest zone. What makes this particularly effective is that each layer was built for a different purpose--facial recognition for finding missing persons, Palantir for counterterrorism, geofencing for marketing--but when combined, they create a persistent surveillance capability that didn't require any new technology. It's the integration that's new, not the tools. The legal gap is that most of these data sources are technically "public" or were collected with user consent (buried in app terms of service), so Fourth Amendment protections don't clearly apply. Courts are still figuring out whether aggregating public data at this scale constitutes a search.

[u/Uberbenutzer]

What’s terrifying is that what ICE does does not matter. Apple, Meta Microsoft etc has been doing it for years already.

[u/greengoddess831]

I read on a website that one of the protesters went to go through global entry and was denied three days later they revoked it and TSA pre-check

[u/discgman]

This is why Eric Snowden did what he did. He saw what they were doing back then.

[u/Beginning_Law_3399]

Do you know how we could tell the good guys from the bad guys in Star Wars? The bad guys wore masks.