There are new concerns over immigration enforcement and the use of surveillance technology, such as the San Diego Police Department’s Automated License Plate Reader technology. NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer has the details.
Some advocates are raising concerns over the possible use of surveillance technology — specifically license plate readers — in federal immigration operations as President Donald Trump’s administration looks to local law enforcement to fulfill his promise of mass deportations.
“We're collecting data about the lives of everybody as they move around,” said Seth Hall, who runs the community group San Diego Privacy. “As you go to the grocery store, as I go to church, all of this stuff is being collected and stored by the San Diego Police Department.”
There are at least 500 Automated License Plate Readers across San Diego. The city said the system was used to make 208 arrests in 2024. Hall said that use comes with risks and requires trust.
“This technology is incredibly powerful. The people who enforce it don't always do it the right way,” Hall said, noting laws shift over time. “What you expect today to be an enforcement against somebody else could potentially become an enforcement against you, right? This technology is going to be there, and it has to be well controlled.”
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Hall pointed to two California laws on the books: Senate Bill 34, which bars local law enforcement from sharing information from license plate readers with federal agencies or entities outside California, and Senate Bill 54, which prohibits the use of state or local resources in immigration enforcement, with exceptions for individuals with certain criminal convictions.
He said SDPD also has a local policy prohibiting the use of license plate reader data in immigration enforcement.
“We have recognized that these cameras have risks, right? And we don't want them used in certain ways,” Hall said. “And the immigration enforcement angle is one of those ways that we've decided we don't want it to be used in California and in San Diego.”
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But SDPD’s annual surveillance report for 2024 released in February notes multiple unspecified instances of sharing with federal agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among others.
“We have a big concern about that,” Hall said. “We have laws against that. We have policies against that. And people should be concerned when those kinds of things are happening in San Diego.”
SDPD said in a statement the agency audited the system weekly and found no reported violations of policy or procedure.
"We only share data when related to a criminal investigation and never use or share ALPR data for immigration enforcement," SDPD said in a statement. "The instances in which our department shared automated license plate reader data with federal partners was solely to aid criminal investigations unrelated to immigration enforcement."
SDPD added that there are "narrow exceptions under state law and department policy that allow us to share pertinent ALPR information when it supports an active criminal case."
“None of that is legal. That's not supposed to be happening,” Hall said of the information sharing with federal agencies. “But that is what they disclosed in their report in February, and I still haven't heard anybody answer for that yet.”
“Each one of those instances of sharing needs to be accounted for,” he added, pointing to a lawsuit over ALPR data in Marin County, settled in 2022 with an agreement by the sheriff to stop sharing with agencies outside California.
“The laws are pretty clear,” attorney Tammy Lin said on the use of local resources for federal immigration enforcement. “You can’t just blatantly share information without it being under a judicial warrant.”
Lin said SB 54 is increasingly important as the Trump administration looks to speed up deportations.
“This federal government right now has been sending people away almost in defiance of judge's orders,” Lin said. “With executive orders recently, they've expanded the reach of immigration to be able to expeditiously remove people. That means without seeing a judge. And so when that happens, people have violations of their due process rights that's afforded to everyone under the Constitution of the United States.”
Lin said the concerns over license plate readers contribute to an atmosphere surrounding immigration that’s already filled with fear.
“This is a slippery slope. And if it's being used for immigration, who's to say it won't be used for other purposes or nefarious purposes in the future?” she said. “And I don't think any of us just driving on the street have just blatantly waived our rights to due process or privacy just because we drive.”
