End Grand Rapids' Flock Camera Program Before ICE Gets the Data

Grand Rapids needs to cancel its contract with Flock Safety and remove all 31 city-owned cameras. The city has admitted that Flock data is shared with federal agencies but refuses to name which ones. That is not transparency — that is a cover-up, and residents deserve better. The ACLU of Michigan has made clear that ICE can access this data through secondhand channels even without a direct contract. We already know a search was run in 2025 with "deportation warrant" listed as the reason. Police called it a mistake. Whether it was or not, it proves the system can be weaponized against immigrant residents. Flock cameras are also exempt from the city's own surveillance reporting requirements due to a grandfather clause — meaning there is virtually no public oversight of how this data is used or shared. Tempe, Arizona just canceled its Flock contract after documented misuse. Grand Rapids should do the same. No policy firewall is strong enough when the city won't even publish a list of its data-sharing partners. The only way to protect residents from this surveillance infrastructure being used as a tool of federal immigration enforcement is to shut it down entirely.