A vigilante is unmasking ICE agents, with 35% or more of face visible, using AI [View all]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/29/ai-unmasking-ice-officers-00519478

An activist has started using artificial intelligence to identify Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents beneath their masks — a use of the technology sparking new political concerns over AI-powered surveillance.

Dominick Skinner, a Netherlands-based immigration activist, estimates he and a group of volunteers have publicly identified at least 20 ICE officials recorded wearing masks during arrests. He told POLITICO his experts are “able to reveal a face using AI, if they have 35 percent or more of the face visible.”

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ICE says its agents need to wear masks to prevent being unfairly harassed for doing their jobs. To their critics, agents in masks have become a potent symbol of unaccountable government force. The masking, and the counter-campaign to identify agents, has prompted a crossfire of bills on Capitol Hill.

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He declined to describe what AI model the tool is built on but said the tool generates its best guess on what the officer looks like unmasked, using screenshots from ICE arrest and raid videos.

Skinner sends batches of these artificially created images for volunteers to use on reverse image search engines like PimEyes. The company, which offers facial recognition capabilities to the public, trawls through millions of images posted online, often turning up social media profiles on LinkedIn and Instagram.