Senator: ICE and CBP "have built an arsenal of surveillance technologies":
A few Senate Democrats introduced a bill called the ''ICE Out of Our Faces Act," which would ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from using facial recognition technology.
The bill [PDF] would make it "unlawful for any covered immigration officer to acquire, possess, access, or use in the United States—(1) any biometric surveillance system; or (2) information derived from a biometric surveillance system operated by another entity." All data collected from such systems in the past would have to be deleted. The proposed ban extends beyond facial recognition to cover other biometric surveillance technologies, such as voice recognition.
The proposed ban would prohibit the federal government from using data from biometric surveillance systems in court cases or investigations. Individuals would have a right to sue the federal government for financial damages after violations, and state attorneys general would be able to bring suits on behalf of residents.
The bill was submitted yesterday by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who held a press conference [video not reviewed -Ed] about the proposal with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and US Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). The Senate bill is also cosponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
"This is a dangerous moment for America," Markey said at the press conference, saying that ICE and CBP "have built an arsenal of surveillance technologies that are designed to track and to monitor and to target individual people, both citizens and non-citizens alike. Facial recognition technology sits at the center of a digital dragnet that has been created in our nation."
Jayapal said, "This is a very dangerous intersection of overly violent and overzealous activity from ICE and Border Patrol, and the increasing use of biometric identification systems. This has become a surveillance state with militarized federal troops on our streets terrorizing and intimidating US citizens and residents alike."
[...] Immigration agents have used face-scanning technology on people who protest or observe ICE activity. An ICE observer in Minnesota recently said in a court filing that her Global Entry and TSA PreCheck privileges were revoked three days after an incident in which an agent scanned her face.
In another recent incident in Portland, Maine, a masked agent told an observer who was taking video that "we have a nice little database and now you're considered a domestic terrorist." A CNN report last week said a memo sent to ICE agents in Minneapolis told them to "capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form."
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Related Stories
Privacy is prerequisite for free thought, dissent, experimentation, and innovation, which are in turn prerequisites for democracy. At NBTV, Naomi Brockwell has posted four reasons why limits on privacy are absolutely not a price worth paying for mainstream adoption.
Today I participated in a Privacy Salon in Denver where we debated a proposition that cuts to the core of the modern privacy movement:
"Limits on privacy are a price worth paying for mainstream adoption of cryptographic privacy."
I was on the "no" side alongside Matt Green, with Evin McMullen and Wei Dai arguing "yes."
It was a lively, thoughtful exchange that forced us to confront a deeper question: is weakening privacy simply the cost of scale?
Below is my opening statement from the debate.
The false argument about having nothing to hide does not hold water. As Ed Snowden observed years ago, "arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say."
Previously:
(2026) Ring Cancels Flock Deal After Dystopian Super Bowl Ad Prompts Mass Outrage
(2026) Discord Will Require a Face Scan or ID for Full Access Next Month
(2026) "ICE Out of Our Faces Act" Would Ban ICE and CBP Use of Facial Recognition
(2025) Big Tech Wants Direct Access to Our Brains
(2025) Discord Customer Service Data Breached; Government-ID Images, and User Details Stolen
(2025) A Surveillance Vendor Was Caught Exploiting a New SS7 Attack to Track People's Phone Locations
... and many more
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edinlinux on Tuesday February 17, @10:31AM (47 children)
Even according to CNN (a rather left wing organization in itself), they conclude that the majority of Americans (56%) want all illegal aliens in the country deported. In addition to that being the will of the people, being in the country illegally is in itself still against Federal law in the United States. President Trump ran a campaign mostly on deporting illegal immigrants, and handily won the election.
The current situation we see now on TV looks a lot like the 1960s when people in the South who did not want black / white integration in schools and society devised a wide variety of ways (peacefully and violently) to subvert or sabotage the federal government and application of Federal law. The result in the end was martial law, and finally the imposition of that Federal law, which in this instance, also seems to be where we are headed.
A (very loud and disruptive but still small) minority of the country do not get to subvert the application of Federal law, nor the wishes of a democratically elected government that may not agree with their position, just as in the South, this was not acceptable in the 1960s either.
If some desire for illegal immigrants to stay (or wish to continue illegal immigration into the United States), then those who want that should campaign, get people elected into office (without ballot harvesting and other forms of cheating), and then have their representatives change the law.
Until then, the law stands, and the illegal aliens get deported. Anything else really, should (and probably will) result in martial law and imposition of Federal law (ie. deportations again).
The other alternative is civil war, if there is an esalation of violent uprising of a vocal minority against the wishes of the majority of The People in the country and current Federal Government law, which is a path I don't think anyone wants to go down. Woke is dead, people (outside blue cities, which is most people) are not standing up for it anymore.
And no BTW, I am no Trump Supporter (if anything, I am a democratic socialist). But you cannot have a country function with endless uncontrolled entry mostly from only one particular ethnic group (which is in itself racist to accept this, as other people from other ethic groups (i.e. Asians..etc) would like to come here too, but can just walk across the desert nearby and cut the line. Its unfair to Americans, other people who wish to immigrate from elsewhere, and is just bad all around). Immigrants are fine, but don't cut the line, and those who did should get kicked out, and be made to apply properly with everyone else around the world who wants to come.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by janrinok on Tuesday February 17, @11:04AM (24 children)
But that is not what this story is about. It is about ICE using facial recognition techniques against people:
Those people who merely observe ICE activities have done nothing wrong, and in most cases are legitimate US citizens. Everyone has the right to protest - it is inherent in the first amendment, isn't it?
I agree, those that actually interfere with the activities are probably committing an offence. But protesting and observing are the right of every American citizen. Shouting one's objections, or blowing whistles, or filming the activities are NOT illegal, despite ICE wishing it were so.
Do the majority of Americans also think that this is a good idea? Do you? Are you a domestic terrorist? What if your name appears in that 'nice little database' sometime in the future? Or do you hold the belief that it doesn't affect you so lets not change anything? 1933-38 all over again, just in a different country.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, @02:29PM
He probably already is after Jan 6th, but all was forgiven by der Leader, so it's ok. I'm sure he considers himself a patriot though, not a seditionist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, @02:39PM (6 children)
Yeah, about that, just how are we going to stop them? The laws we have are being routinely violated every day. Oversight simply does not exist.
He's right about one thing, this is what the majority wants, or it wouldn't be happening
(Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Tuesday February 17, @04:12PM (5 children)
Well, doing nothing will not bring about a change. But whatever you do will be at best uncomfortable and might also require some hardship and determination on your part. Waving placards alone will have no effect whatsoever. It will require action that the government cannot ignore. Other countries do it regularly. They go on strike - withhold their labour. They take industrial action. Something that the government cannot ignore because it costs them money and is visible around the world.
It will not require breaking any laws but if all that happens is people sit in their armchairs and tut-tut about what is happening then nothing will change. As you have correctly pointed out the constitution is being ignored (by the govt) every day. There is little judicial oversight. If people cannot observe, or protest or even legally carry weapons then what has become of your freedoms?
Who are you expecting to cause a change? It is not the end result that people are complaining about but the means of achieving that end. But I fear you are all too comfortable in your own homes so that as long as ICE do not approach you then you feel that posting something on the internet is 'action'. While we, the rest of the world, do not see you take any action why should we even support you diplomatically? But the rest of the world is most certainly changing and the US will be far worse off tomorrow. We no longer have any trust in the US government and it will take generations for that to be restored, if it ever is. Unfortunately, you are content with the current status quo. But one day any one of you could be classed as a domestic terrorist.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 17, @09:58PM
Another view might be that, through inaction, people in the US are encouraging this runaway train to speed ever faster towards the hairpin turn at the end of the cliff. Midterm elections are this year and things need to get even worse before then to really upset the apple cart. At that point the balance of power will shift, or the authoritarians will truly remove their masks and abandon any pretense of democracy.
In any event, the US will come out of this in a far worse position and the rest of the world will be all the better for it.
Who knows, maybe someone in the US has created psychohistory and is the real Hari Seldon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 19, @07:04PM (3 children)
The "how are we going to stop them?" question was somewhat rhetorical, if not incomplete. The question is, how are we going to stop them when we won't lift a finger to remove the corrupt incumbents from congress?
So, to answer your question, again, I am expecting "we the people" to cause a change. There is nobody else.. or is there?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday February 19, @07:16PM (2 children)
Nope, unless there is a miracle it is up to "you, the people".
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 19, @10:49PM (1 child)
:-) Well, that does include you, the person. We all have to do our part. The phenomenon that created ICE and all the other authoritarianism plaguing us is not a national issue.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday February 20, @02:41AM
Are you inviting foreign interference in your elections? I am free to express my opinions and views, but I can have no part to play in the final resolution of the mess Americans have got themselves in.
If the US public does eventually decide to take some kind of action then the rest of the world can express its support, but it should not actually do anything to cause a change of government. Of course, some countries may do so for their own benefit but not for the benefit of Americans themselves.
However, many countries are already changing their own futures in terms of allies, trade opportunities and diplomacy. This will not, indeed cannot, change back even if you have a change of government. The current situation illustrates that there are sufficient Americans who support Trump to indicate that the same thing can happen again in the future. You are now untrusted, you are viewed as willing to go to extreme measures in the way that the governing party is treating citizens who currently have representatives from opposing parties. America is no longer following the accepted world order or supporting any other organisations that attempt to manage international relations. You wish to dictate without legal backing not only how you treat your own citizens but also how you treat your former friends and allies.
You have waited too long - in my opinion - to take any meaningful action to resolve the problems that the current government has created in your name even if not with your support. You have all been complicit in some way or other. What you have done has not only harmed your own country but also the way many other countries view you too. You are using force in an attempt to remodel the world's nations to something that you prefer and can control. They will not treat you the same in the future until this situation cannot arise again.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2, Troll) by VLM on Tuesday February 17, @02:42PM (5 children)
All the better reason to not let criminal invaders in, if its so awful here.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by epitaxial on Tuesday February 17, @02:48PM
I know a much more important criminal with 34 felonies walking free. Can't they deport him?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Tuesday February 17, @04:17PM (3 children)
Nobody has suggested 'letting them in'. But how can detaining a 5 year-old be considered as something that justifies the end? Why are complete families not being removed rather than in most cases just the men? It is the means of achieving that end that people are objecting to, not the removal of anyone who has the wrong colour of skin.;
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, @06:43PM (2 children)
That 5-year old was abandoned by his father during the traffic stop, and his mother refused custody. No one "detained" or arrested a 5-year old child. Justifying the end? Since you mention it, the kid's parents and the left used that child for ideological and political purposes. Are you prepared to condemn both the parents and the media along with the politicians who used the kid?
(Score: 3, Touché) by epitaxial on Tuesday February 17, @07:44PM
If any of that bullshit was true then why did it take a judge to order the release of the child? And while we're asking questions, why was a 5 year old sent to detention center?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 17, @08:24PM
I take the big picture view that when your enemy is digging a hole, let them keep digging.
Trust in legacy media is too high, left alone they always find a way to lower it.
Theres not much the right could do that would make the left look worse that just letting them be themselves in public. Its entertaining to watch.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday February 17, @06:35PM (9 children)
America has insisted that cops, and ICE, have body cameras. Okay, so, ICE can't use facial recognition. They can still use contractors to identify faces in the video. Are we going to bar companies who use facial recognition to contract with ICE? Okay, so, some experts examine video evidence, and follow their intuition and leads to identify suspects. It slows things down, but we still get to the same point. When you assault a federal agent, your ass goes to prison for years.
Fact is, Pandora's Box has been opened, and facial recognition is now part of the world. AI works just as effectively against criminals and terrorists as it works for criminals and terrorists.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Tuesday February 17, @07:19PM (8 children)
I didn't realise that the right to protest (First Amendment), to observe, or to legally carry a weapon had now been made illegal. When was that passed by the politicians? Subsequently, those who have been subjected to the face-scanning technology (no matter who processes the data) are classified as "domestic terrorists".
As I said in a previous comment - whatever happened to your freedoms?
I am not arguing about moving illegal immigrants out - your country, your rules.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday February 17, @08:47PM (7 children)
No laws have been written or changed barring peaceful assembly. But you know damned well that laying hands on a federal agent is not protected by any right to assemble. Blocking streets isn't covered by peaceful assembly either. Just like the 'Summer of Love' in 2020, many, or even most of these "demonstrations" have crossed the llne into riot this year. Not even in your most fevered dreams could it be alright to attempt to burn down buildings around ICE agent's ears. Riot, assault, destruction and obstruction have always been illegal. American's rights have not been infringed one whit by ICE.
And, as usual, there is a humorous side of this. The insurrectionists have openly created and contributed to a database of ICE agents and their vehicles, doxxing agents when possible, and calling for agent's murders. But, somehow, it's wrong for ICE to have it's own database? That is perversely humorous.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Tuesday February 17, @09:08PM (4 children)
OK, so shooting an unarmed man with 10 rounds is now perfectly acceptable instead of arresting him. Got it. I'll try to remember that.
Is this another joke?
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 18, @07:48PM (3 children)
Why, yes, it is. You have to examine events. A man got into cop's faces. The man was determined to be armed. Every single cop on the scene KNEW that he was armed, because the first cop to spot the weapon shouted "GUN!" One cop removed the weapon, and some of the cops saw that removal. Not all the cops actually saw it, but some cops did. Then, an unexpected gun shot rings out, and cops acted appropriately by neutralizing the suspect whom they knew to be armed.
You and I can second guess and nitpick with the benefit of hindsight all we like. But, fact is, you don't second guess troops in the field. If you have all this military background you've told us of, you KNOW that you don't second guess the troops.
From the perspective of those cops or federal agents on scene, even if they KNEW the suspect had been disarmed, they couldn't know whether the suspect had a second weapon in an ankle holster or some such crap. An unexpected shot rang out, so the squared off and eliminated the immediate threat that they knew about. And, I support every one of those agents in their actions. Hell, if I were stupid enough to get physical with a bunch of cops while armed, I would understand if they shot me. Lesson to the wise: NEVER INTERFERE WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT!
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday February 18, @08:18PM (2 children)
Off course I disagree. When the shot rang out (from another ICE agent?) it was obvious that it was not the man lying on the floor being pinned down by several agents.
If you don't KNOW that someone is armed you do not shoot them. Otherwise there would be nothing at all to stop people walking around shooting others and then saying "I thought he was armed".
I got to exercise this very situation in both Iraq and Bosnia, and the Rules of Engagement are very specific about this point. (The Geneva Convention also has quite a bit to say about this.) Not that the US appears to care any more about the value of a life.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 18, @11:02PM (1 child)
So - you wait until you've been shot to shoot back?
Again, if Pretti had bought a better weapon to start with, it wouldn't have discharged while being carried. Buying a weapon that is known to have discharged with no finger on the trigger in the past is also a recipe for death.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday February 19, @02:30AM
No, you wait until you know who is shooting... That avoids innocent people being killed. In Iraq or Bosnia you could not just start shooting at the nearest people you can see.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by weirsbaski on Thursday February 19, @10:19AM (1 child)
Pants on fire.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/courts-have-ruled-4400-times-that-ice-jailed-people-illegally-it-hasnt-stopped-2026-02-14/ [reuters.com]
Those are really bold claims, I assume you were just about to post linkies with evidence?
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 19, @02:21PM
Blocking streets in and of itself is riotous. Blocking and barricading streets has definitely crossed the line. Lighting a building on fire is most definitely a riot - or even just the attempt to do so. Laying hands on a federal agent is a riot. Throwing rocks and other potentially deadly instruments at officers and/or their vehicles is a riot. Pretti is on video, rioting, when he kicked out the tail light of an ICE vehicle. Good was rioting, by blocking the street, and intentionally impeding federal agents. The left has literally attempted to assassinate ICE agents in Dallas, then a dozen or more of their fellow transsexual Antifa-affiliated friends tried hard to hide those involved. On and on it goes, with the left pretending to be "non-violent", while pointing at every imagined "brutality" incident as if the federal government were Soviet Russia.
I pointed out that this is no longer 2020, as soon as Trump was elected. We're simply not doing Portland again, where the left rioted for hundreds of days in a row, with almost no consequence. This is 2026, and it is FAFO time.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by turgid on Tuesday February 17, @11:23AM
the will of the people
Where have I heard that before? Oh, there was this vote that went 51.8% to 48.2%. So 51.8% was "the will of the people."
You can go back to the previous century too. There was this Austrian gentleman.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Insightful) by weirsbaski on Tuesday February 17, @11:52AM
One difference between now and the 60's is now it's the feds subverting federal law.
Legal immigrants being detained? Check.
https://factually.co/fact-checks/justice/ice-detentions-legal-immigrants-green-card-work-visa-921f4e [factually.co]
Citizens being detained, and held illegally? Check.
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/16/immigration-ice-arrests-propublica-white-house-deportation-immigrants-sweep/ [opb.org]
ICE ignoring court orders? Check.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/courts-have-ruled-4400-times-that-ice-jailed-people-illegally-it-hasnt-stopped-2026-02-14/ [reuters.com]
Detainees sent to torture conditions? Check.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/fort-bliss-inhumane-ice-conditions [commondreams.org]
ICE using torture weapons against citizens, and laughing about it? Check and check.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/ice-agents-caught-using-lrad-weapons-at-close-range-against-peaceful-protesters-in-minneapolis/ar-AA1V6WkK [msn.com]
https://www.rawstory.com/sonic-weapon/ [rawstory.com]
ICE killing people, and lying about it? Check.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/ice-defense-minnesota-killing/685549/ [theatlantic.com]
That flip comment is pretty tone-deaf, considering what we're actually doing regarding immigration and protests.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by arubaro on Tuesday February 17, @12:00PM (8 children)
> CNN (a rather left wing organization in itself),
you are joking right? on second thought, that assertion only shows how far to the right has the USA political spectrum shifted.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, @06:37PM (7 children)
No, you're the one who is joking. Trump and half of his administration are former Democrats, who were abandoned by the Democrat's ongoing shift to the left. Trump is neither right wing, nor Republican.
(Score: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Tuesday February 17, @07:21PM (4 children)
Under the US definition, maybe not. For the rest of the world he most certainly is!
I'm laughing so much I will have to dry my tears. Thanks for the joke...
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, @08:59PM (3 children)
Utter nonsense. Again, Trump hasn't moved, Europe has moved to the extreme left, just as the Democrat party has. In Europe and the UK, you probably face retribution in the near future for the same crimes that Biden perpetrated against the United States. https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/2012813897888121232 [x.com]
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday February 17, @09:09PM
Don't stop, you are on a roll with these jokes.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 18, @02:14AM (1 child)
> Again, Trump hasn't moved,
Right, he's the same idiot laughingstock I remember being set up as the butt of endless jokes, 30+ years ago on the late night Howard Stern show.
And Trump kept coming back on that show, once wasn't nearly enough abuse.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ChrisMaple on Wednesday February 18, @04:56PM
If Howard Stern is the standard of goodness, we're all screwed.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Tuesday February 17, @07:50PM
Let's use Ronald Reagan has a benchmark. In 2026 where does he fit into the political scale? You're not gonna like the results.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aafcac on Tuesday February 17, @10:50PM
Ongoing shift to the left? The Democrats as a party haven't been left in decades.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday February 17, @01:02PM
Then you lose that alleged majority of support.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Covalent on Tuesday February 17, @07:07PM (9 children)
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ChrisMaple on Wednesday February 18, @05:07PM (8 children)
The deportation of some gardeners, some farm workers, social service cheats, drug gang members and their customers, will not collapse the economy. Removing illegal aliens from low paying jobs opens up those jobs to those legal residents currently having difficulty finding employment.
(Score: 1) by Covalent on Wednesday February 18, @05:26PM (7 children)
If it were "some", I would agree with you. But we're not talking about "some", are we? The president wants them ALL gone, and by most counts, there are about 15M of them. 15,000,000/341,000,000*100 = 4.4%. Unemployment is currently about 4.3%...which is very low. Most of these people aren't "currently having difficulty finding employment". They're choosing not to work for a variety of reasons. But even if they ALL went to work in the jobs abandoned by undocumented people, we'd still be short.
But wait, there's more - those jobs aren't where most of these people live. The unemployed are widely dispersed in the US. But the jobs left by the undocumented are more highly concentrated in farming regions. So now the unemployed in North Dakota have to move to California to have a job. Good luck with that.
Your argument doesn't hold water because unemployment is already so low. Undocumented people aren't mostly holding highly desirable corporate jobs - most of them are doing menial labor and being paid under the table without benefits or protections. Citizens aren't taking these jobs because they're awful and citizens don't want them.
Therefore, kicking out even a small fraction of undocumented people will have an outsized negative effect on the economy. Enjoy paying $9 for a tomato because of racism and an unwillingness to just naturalize the vast majority of these folks and be done with it.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 18, @07:36PM (6 children)
You have not kept up with current events. Illegal aliens are spread throughout the United States. They are found in construction, factory jobs, agriculture, food processing, service industries, automotive, and more. Taxis and Ubers, DoorDash, Amazon warehouses, hotels and motels, and on and on it goes. SOME OF THEM hold jobs as school administrators, police, and at least one of them is a Congress woman, who committed immigration fraud. The days when illegal aliens only picked fruits and veggies in the American south west are long gone. Somehow, I've neglected to mention the truck drivers, who can't understand a word of English, instead relying on their "smart phones" to do translation for them.
I'll remind Soylent that the move into construction began in the early 1990s. I was a journeyman carpenter who NEVER had to go looking for work - work came looking for me based on my repuation. Suddenly, I was between jobs, and no one was calling. I went looking for work. Every major job site was manned by illegals, and the management people just laughed at me. "We can hire THREE of these guys for the money you want!"
Current events, my friend. You've got to stay current if you expect to know what's really happening.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 2) by Covalent on Wednesday February 18, @07:56PM (3 children)
https://cmsny.org/publications/undocumented-workers-in-high-growth-occupations-and-industries/ [cmsny.org]
This is the most recent data I could find (August of 2025)
The industries with the highest number of undocumented workers are Construction (accounting for 20 percent of the undocumented workforce), Accommodation and Food Services (12 percent), Manufacturing (11 percent), Administrative, Support, and Waste Management Services (10 percent), and Retail Trade (8 percent).
I stand corrected.
That said, construction jobs are nearly all under the table for this pool of workers, as is accommodation (read: maids) and food service (read: food trucks and local food shops). Likely a significant fraction of the remaining are also paid under the table, are uninsured, etc.
So, my general premise stands.
Additionally, while there are certainly undocumented workers in every state, they are far from uniformly distributed:
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/what-we-know-about-unauthorized-immigrants-living-in-the-us/ [pewresearch.org]
https://immresearch.org/publications/50-states-immigrants-by-number-and-share/ [immresearch.org]
The percentages of undocumented people by state vary widely, with over 10% of California's population being undocumented, compared to just 2% in Wyoming.
So, again, my general premise stands. Wholesale removing undocumented people from America is unwise - if we want to deport anyone, we should limit those deportations to people who have convicted in a court of law of committing a violent crime. We need these folks just as much as they need us.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 18, @11:20PM (2 children)
I disagree, still. How many Americans are working two or more crappy jobs, at or below minimum wage, busting their asses to make ends meet? Get rid of illegals, some full-time jobs open up, and people can go back to working one job, or maybe one job with a weekend hustle. How many people are sitting back, pulling in welfare checks, an EBT card, and section 8 housing? They've found their no-effort comfort zone. Start cutting welfare, and a lot of those people will re-enter the job market. Bear in mind that if 5 or 10% of the total population are shipped out, the legal population no longer need provide for those people. School taxes, property taxes, everything, we aren't paying for the illegals any more. Fewer kids in a classroom means more money spent per child, or the costs are reduced. AND, the quality of education should go up! People complain that home ownership is out of reach. Reduce the market by 10%, prices will go down. Stop government paying for all that housing, prices will go down.
No, we will not, we cannot, deport every single illegal alien. But, that is a desirable goal. Biden did this to us, now we have to clean up. Every illegal alien deported helps toward that goal.
Claims about the labor pool are all nonsense. If there aren't enough carpenters after the illegals are gone, carpenter's wages will increase, and people will go into the field. We still have people who can train new carpenters, after all. Not all of us carpenters are over 70 years old, there are still younger men who know how to build. The same applies to all the other trades and professions.
Respects for actually looking for the information, when I challenged you. Far too many people think they know it all, and won't look for the real data.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 2) by Covalent on Thursday February 19, @12:06AM (1 child)
Barely worth responding to. Biden gave us this? Shows your lack of knowledge. Blame republican jesus...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Reform_and_Control_Act_of_1986 [wikipedia.org]
Oh and look at that massive increase under Trump:
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states [migrationpolicy.org]
I'm bored. Try harder.
Oh and before I go, fewer students means fewer teachers - I know - I'm a teacher. Class sizes remain constant and teachers get laid off. There more unemployment and economic downturn for you. Same with bus drivers, nurses, and many other jobs.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 19, @04:43AM
You may be bored, but Biden threw the doors open, and forbade Border Patrol doing their jobs, instead using Border Patrol to babysit illegals, and usher those illegals to destinations all around the country.
Fewer teachers, huh? Cool. Some former teachers may benefit from production jobs being brought back into the country. You won't all be needed to educate the illegal alien children crowding our class rooms today.
And, no, class sizes aren't a constant over time and over geography. When I was in school, classes with more than 20 students were considered over crowded. When my sons started school in another part of the nation, they were in largest graduating class in the school's history, 24 students. Bill Clinton was largely responsible for closing that school down, and integrating students into a much larger school system, where class rooms sometimes had 36 students in them. Small schools, and small class sizes are anathema to the Department of Education and those whose job it is to indoctrinate children into this new society Democrats espouse.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 2) by weirsbaski on Thursday February 19, @09:59AM (1 child)
So when ICE arrests illegals at a job site, why don't they also arrest the business owner? It's illegal to hire illegals, isn't it? And nobody would jump the border for work if there was no work for them, right?
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 21, @07:47PM
That is my question as well. We know the business owner and the managers are flagrantly violating the law, but no one goes to the effort of enforcing the law, or imposing penalties.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, @05:11PM
Pass a law, even if you manage to get a majority
there is no enforcement, if someone actually gets
put in jail, they will be pardoned (with an appropriate bribe)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, @05:14PM
After four years, Biden couldn't manage to get rid
of Trump's Postmaster General.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Username on Tuesday February 17, @06:23PM (1 child)
So the FBI using facial recognition to persecute Republicans is good, but DHS doing the same thing is bad, because why? Why don't they say ALL feds cannot use or pay someone else to use facial recognition? Though, I can see where it would be useful when you have a photo of a suspect and years of video footage to look through.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday February 17, @06:39PM
Who said that?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈 - Give us ribbiti or make us croak! 🐸
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, @07:37PM (2 children)
Do Not Trust.
This is just virtue-signaling, knowing there's no chance that this will pass. Later, when there's a democrat-controlled congress, this will either not be reintroduced, or again WILL NOT PASS. Notice how NOTHING about facial recognition (DHS at airports?) has been prevented. When it comes to FBI et al, _everything_ is approved, always, every single time. (See also: Total Information Awareness, by another name.)
This is just a couple of congress critters virtue signaling, knowing that they don't have to stand by anything, knowing that _anything_ that they put forth sounds great to the masses and they don't have to worry about it not being "tough on crime".
To hell with them.
(Score: 2) by oregonjohn on Tuesday February 17, @08:19PM (1 child)
Somebody needs to bring virtue into the public discussion. Might as well be people who actually care don't you think?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday February 17, @08:26PM
unfortunately it's usually the people who want to look like they care, while preaching to their own choir.