Press Release: 11/24/2025
Senator Markey Demands Customs and Border protection Stop Using License Plate Readers to Monitor Americans
Boston (November 24, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today wrote to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney S. Scott, urging the agency to immediately cease using a system of license plate readers (LPRs) and predictive algorithms to monitor the movements of individual Americans. CBP is reportedly using the system to “identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.”
In the letter, Senator Markey writes, “CBP’s expansive use of LPRs and predictive technologies represents, at best, a profound invasion of privacy and, at worst, a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Through its LPR cameras, CBP is collecting huge quantities of sensitive information on vehicles, potentially allowing the government to identify and follow women traveling across state lines to seek abortion care or to track the movements of journalists, activists, and political opponents. Moreover, the notion that an American could be stopped and detained based solely on an algorithmic determination about their driving behavior is deeply chilling. Finally, this practice raises serious constitutional concerns. Increasingly, courts have recognized that the use of surveillance technologies can violate the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Senator Markey continues, “In the absence of meaningful regulations on the government’s use of LPRs and other surveillance technologies, the public risks being subjected to ongoing, real-time monitoring of their movements and associations. Such pervasive surveillance — similar to surveillance conducted by authoritarian regimes such as China — not only chills lawful expression and assembly but also raises serious constitutional concerns. Without transparency, accountability, and clear limitations, these practices erode fundamental individual rights and set a dangerous precedent for unchecked government power. CBP’s expanded use of LPRs and predictive algorithms heralds a chilling new era of mass government surveillance. For that reason, CBP should immediately cease the use of LPRs and predictive algorithms.”
Senator Markey asks CBP to respond to questions regarding the use of their technologies by December 15, 2025, including:
- Please provide a detailed description of CBP’s development and deployment of LPR systems and predictive technology.
- What are CBP’s current policies, practices, and procedures governing use of LPRs and predictive technology?
- Please describe all the ways in which CBP uses flags for “suspicious activity” obtained through LPRs and predictive technology.
- Did CBP conduct a Fourth Amendment analysis to evaluate whether the deployment and use of license plate reader systems and predictive technology constitute unreasonable searches and seizures?
- Will CBP commit to ending the use of LPRs and predictive technology? If not, why not?
On November 3, Senator Markey led his colleagues in requesting that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cease the use of their biometric phone application known as Mobile Fortify following a previous unanswered request. On September 11, Senator Markey wrote to ICE’s Acting Director Todd Lyons, demanding that ICE cease use of Mobile Fortify and requesting detailed information about its policies and practices surrounding the use of biometric technology.
On July 31, Senator Markey, along with Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Schiff, sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent usage of Predator drones and aerial surveillance against peaceful protesters in Los Angeles. In the letter, the senators raised concerns about the threat to the protesters’ privacy and their constitutional rights that are guaranteed by the First Amendment. On June 20, Senators Markey and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote two letters to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary Noem about the government’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to determine whether an individual poses a national security risk.