1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

I am writing to demand that you work to curtail ICE's direct access to our state's DMV data unless they provide a judicial warrant for a criminal investigation. Five states have already taken this critical step to protect their residents' privacy and constitutional rights: Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington. Our state should join them. ICE has been using facial recognition technology and surveillance tools to identify and track protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. In Minneapolis, ICE officers scanned protesters' faces at demonstrations and warned them they were being added to a government database. This is not hypothetical surveillance. It is happening now. ICE's surveillance toolkit includes cameras operated by companies like Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions that track vehicle locations and identify owners. Through Nlets, a data-sharing network for law enforcement agencies, ICE accesses DMV data across the country. Using only a license plate, ICE can determine a person's identity, home address, location history, and associations without any judicial oversight. This warrantless access to our personal information violates basic privacy protections that Americans expect and deserve. The ability to protest without government retaliation is fundamental to our democracy. When ICE can use DMV data to identify and track people participating in lawful demonstrations, it creates a chilling effect on free speech and assembly. Residents should not have to choose between exercising their constitutional rights and protecting their privacy from warrantless surveillance. I urge you to introduce or support legislation that restricts ICE's access to our state's DMV data unless they obtain a judicial warrant for a specific criminal investigation. This is a reasonable requirement that balances legitimate law enforcement needs with constitutional protections. Five states have already demonstrated this is both feasible and necessary. Our residents deserve the same privacy protections that millions of Americans in these other states already enjoy. I ask for your commitment to pursue this legislation and protect our constitutional rights from warrantless surveillance.