Secretive Border Patrol Program Uses License-Plate Readers to Flag Millions of U.S. Drivers

The U.S. Border Patrol operates a covert, predictive-intelligence program that collects license-plate data nationwide and uses algorithms to identify travel patterns it deems 'suspicious.' According to interviews with former officials and a review of court and government documents, the system has led to motorists being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested.

Key findings

A widespread network of cameras captures vehicle license plates and feeds the data to an algorithm that flags vehicles based on origin, destination and routes taken. When a vehicle is flagged, Border Patrol agents can notify local law enforcement, which may pull drivers over for routine traffic infractions — speeding, a missing turn signal or even an obstructed view caused by a hanging air freshener — and then conduct questioning and searches.

Former officials who worked with the program — several of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly — and dozens of current and former federal, state and local officials, attorneys and privacy experts provided information. Investigators also examined thousands of pages of court and government records, state grant and law enforcement data, and arrest reports.

Government response

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says license-plate readers are used to identify threats and disrupt criminal networks and are governed by a 'stringent, multi-layered policy framework, as well as federal law and constitutional protections.' The agency declined to disclose operational details for national security reasons and noted Border Patrol is authorized to operate beyond the 100-mile border zone when necessary.

History and expansion

What began roughly a decade ago as a tool to target cross-border crimes — including drug and human trafficking — has broadened in scope over the past five years. Instead of focusing solely on known suspects, the program looks for anomalies in everyday travel patterns of ordinary Americans.

The Border Patrol has frequently concealed aspects of its license-plate reader operations, at times minimizing references to the technology in court documents and police reports. Readers are sometimes hidden along highways inside commonplace traffic-safety items such as barrels and drums.

The network now covers areas along the southern border in Texas, Arizona and California and also monitors traffic near the U.S.-Canada border. The program pulls data from license-plate readers run by other federal agencies, private companies and an expanding set of local law-enforcement programs funded by federal grants. Documents indicate that some state and local agencies have sought to incorporate facial-recognition tools as well.

Legal and civil-liberties concerns

Legal scholars and civil-rights advocates warn that while courts have generally allowed the collection of license-plate data in public spaces, the aggregation of massive movement records into searchable databases raises serious Fourth Amendment and privacy questions. Andrew Ferguson, a law professor at George Washington University, says courts are beginning to recognize that 'large-scale surveillance technology that’s capturing everyone and everywhere at every time' may conflict with constitutional protections.

Nicole Ozer, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Democracy at UC Law San Francisco, described the findings as alarming: 'They are collecting mass amounts of information about who people are, where they go, what they do and who they know. These surveillance systems do not make communities safer.' Critics also warn that algorithmic flags can be opaque and prone to false positives, increasing the risk of unnecessary stops and escalations.

What's at stake

The program illustrates a broader shift within CBP toward sophisticated domestic surveillance capabilities. Under recent federal funding priorities, the agency is positioned to receive billions to expand surveillance systems and layer in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies — amplifying concerns about oversight, transparency and civil liberties.

Contributors

Information and reporting contributions were provided by Tau; Burke; Aaron Kessler; Jim Vertuno; Serginho Roosblad; Ross D. Franklin; David Goldman; and Ismael M. Belkoura. Several former government officials and experts spoke on background to explain program operations and impacts.