Technology and policy experts warned of immigration agents’ usage of Flock cameras and the lack of accountability measures in a Wednesday talk at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

The panel — titled “What are avenues for action and accountability?” — was the final talk of the NYU Migration Network’s annual conference, which this year, focused on artificial intelligence and featured several experts on surveillance technology and data. The panelists covered the privacy implications of widespread AI implementation into security and data-collection programs, as well as solutions to mitigate AI surveillance in local communities. 

Eleni Manis, the research director at Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a privacy legal advocacy group, urged attendees of the importance of encouraging policy reform in the face of AI surveillance systems like Flock cameras.

“Expansive data sharing across cities and states is central to Flock’s business model — it’s how it makes money,” Manis said at the panel. “Flock blew up because a Texas sheriff could access Flock data from Illinois to track an abortion seeker, and Illinois is a state that protects the right to abortion. Flock blew up because ICE’s friends searched card data from places like New York.”

Manis highlighted that police across the United States have used Flock’s database, which uses cameras to track cars based on their license plates, on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — including in New York state, a sanctuary jurisdiction. She also suggested that lawmakers could implement policies that prevent ICE from accessing data until 48 hours after it was collected from Flock cameras.

“New York is a sanctuary jurisdiction, and Syracuseians realized that their data was being searched on behalf of ICE against their wishes,” she said. “Not all license plate company readers work this way. Cities can choose license plate-reader vendors and write policies that minimize data sharing.”

The NYU Migration Network is an institute researching migration and mobility, which began at 9:30 a.m. and ran until 5 p.m. This year’s conference, which featured four talks on Wednesday, brought speakers from disciplines ranging from law and policy, media studies, data sciences and journalism.

After welcoming remarks and an introductory panel on AI ethics and immigration policy, Meredith Broussard, journalism professor and research director at NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology, delivered a keynote address. The other panels saw experts in law, journalism, library science and other fields discuss various applications of AI in immigration policy and their implications for both immigrants and non-immigrants across the country.

“Transforming research into action is such a critical piece for reminding us that we are agentic political actors,” Wagner professor Natasha Iskander, who gave the welcome address with Vice Provost Clay Shirky, told WSN. “These are changes that are happening — but they don’t have to happen to us.”

Emma Dognin, Gabriella Garcia and Sophia Walsh contributed reporting.

Contact Maia Gorgan at [email protected].