Surveillance

Surveillance Tools Intended for Border Control Are Being Used Against Americans

U.S. citizens are being monitored and punished with technology meant to battle illegal immigration.

J.D. Tuccille | 5.6.2026 7:00 AM

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(Illustration: Midjourney)

It goes without saying that any tool or power government acquires for addressing some crisis of the moment will eventually—often, almost immediately—be deployed against the general public. So it is with border enforcement and the crackdown on immigrants. Surveillance technology ostensibly intended for the enforcement of laws regulating migration is being turned against Americans.

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'Easy Access to the Home and Workplace Addresses of American Citizens'

"In the battle against illegal immigration, the U.S. is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on tools that give federal agents easy access to the home and workplace addresses of American citizens, their social-media accounts, vehicle information, flight history, law-enforcement records and other personal information, as well as data to track their daily comings and goings," The Wall Street Journal's Shane Shifflett and Hannah Critchfield reported last week.

The article opened with the story of Liz McLellan, a Maine resident who photographed federal agents participating in an immigration crackdown. Agents went to her home and told her, "This is a warning. We know you live right here." Understandably, she took that as a threat.

In fact, McLellan was well within her rights to record federal agents. As Freedom Forum notes, "Courts have protected a general right to record law enforcement when the officers are performing official actions........

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