Opinion: Albany Can’t Wait Until January To Fight Trump and ICE

The New York Senate should utilize a special session to pass other law tamping down on policies and practices that are or could be used by ICE such as the emerging threat of biometric surveillance machinery in schools A NYC Council rally in calling for ICE agents to be ejected from courthouses John McCarten NYC Council President Donald Trump s revocation of a directive barring ICE agents from raiding and surrounding sensitive spaces like K- schools is paralyzing New York communities with fear chilling students attendance preventing parents from meeting their kids in the pick-up line and making deportation a regular occupational hazard for essential staff It has been a calamity not only for our public soundness but also for basic educational pedagogy In response New Yorkers are mobilizing to protect access to safe population guidance and keep ICE out of schools coaching students and educators on how to refuse entry to ICE officers And nationwide specific development advocates are responding to ICE on campus like functioning shooter lockdowns function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' But these area protections can be easily bypassed or squashed In the news and in our streets we ve seen the National Guard intervene to enforce deportations and we ve seen state and local law enforcement agencies like the NYPD collaborate with ICE Right now New York lawmakers and advocates are taking action against these threats New York State Senators Jabari Brisport and Julia Salazar have called on the New York State Legislature to reconvene in a special session to pass the New York for All Act a crucial piece of ordinance that would significantly limit collaboration between state and local law enforcement and ICE bureaucrats But the buck should not stop here The New York Senate should utilize a special session to pass other rule tamping down on policies and practices that are or could be used by ICE such as the emerging threat of biometric surveillance instrument in schools This dystopian mechanism can become a digital backdoor for ICE agents to raid our schools hallways cafeterias and classrooms Numerous society and private schools across the country are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to slimy tech vendors selling AI powered system that processes footage captured by school surveillance cameras and collects the biometric features and movements of students staff members and visitors without their consent Biometric systems won t make schools safer Instead these technologies turn schools into statistics collection farms that may function as a backdoor for federal immigration enforcement Biometric surveillance systems including facial recognition equipment FRT expose students especially Black Brown and immigrant youth to increased peril of law enforcement and ICE encounters These systems are prone to algorithmic bias frequently misidentifying students of color and triggering unnecessary interactions with school shield or police Once a candidate is flagged by the tech their personal information can be logged into law enforcement databases without that novice s consent From there fusion centers may share these permanent digital records across agencies including ICE ICE can then use that information to pursue dubious warrants and gain access to school grounds where they may detain students who were never even flagged by the system Like the NYPD school store officers and administrators may even utilize biometric surveillance in cooperation with ICE allowing ICE to feed images of individuals they are seeking to deport into the school s FRT database Imagine being a non-citizen parent of an American aspirant and not knowing whether coming to your child s parent-teacher conference will upshot in your deportation and permanent separation from your child whether because you attended a protest and became a target of the federal administration or entirely because the facial recognition algorithm misidentified you as a target How are you supposed to assistance your child s schooling The NY For All Act would regulate school fund and NYPD officers disclosure of immigration status to ICE however it cannot account for the disclosure of status through statistics breaches Schools that adopt biometric surveillance systems often outsource the storage of sensitive records like students facial scans and fingerprints to private vendors creating serious and long-term cybersecurity risks Even when these vendors technically comply with scholar figures privacy laws they remain prime targets for input breaches In one major breach in hackers accessed Suprema s BioStar platform and exposed million records including fingerprints and facial recognition material Unlike a password biometric information can t be changed once it s stolen meaning that a child s digital identity can be compromised for life These stolen biometrics are frequently sold to shady third-party records brokers and can end up in sprawling databases used by law enforcement including ICE Thus when schools install these vulnerable technologies they don t just jeopardize learner privacy they potentially expose children to lifelong surveillance law enforcement scrutiny and immigration enforcement far beyond the classroom Presently New York schools are allowed to use most of forms of biometric surveillance on students parents and other visitors While facial recognition is currently forbidden by a regulation a new development commissioner could reinstate facial recognition in schools overnight If a special session is called lawmakers could have the chance to demonstrate their commitment to fostering inclusive safe educational environments and keep our schools free of dystopian surveillance tech that disproportionately harms vulnerable populations A bill at this time advancing through New York s Assembly and Senate would not only secure the existing regulatory ban on FRT in schools it would also expand the ban to other types of biometric surveillance tech presently installed in several New York schools In addition to passing the NY For All Act this is a critical step towards safeguarding educational access for all students regardless of immigration status And with Trump-allied politicians like New York Mayor Eric Adams touting anti-immigration policies and swelling citywide spending on surveillance tech it is our moral imperative as New Yorkers to push our state s leaders to swiftly pass these and other bills dismantling ICE s enforcement capabilities Sarah Roth is a legal intern at the Surveillance Hardware Oversight Project S T O P and rising L at Northeastern University School of Law The post Opinion Albany Can t Wait Until January To Fight Trump and ICE appeared first on City Limits