Expert warns of human rights risks from AI surveillance at US-Mexico border
An expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University warns that AI, biometric surveillance, and geolocation systems used by U.S. immigration authorities at the Mexico-U.S. border risk human rights violations and privacy breaches. The systems reportedly use algorithmic risk profiles and may reproduce biases against migrants.
What happened
The U.S. uses AI, biometric surveillance, facial recognition, and geolocation tools as part of mechanisms to monitor migrants at the Mexico-U.S. border, according to Juan Carlos Barrón Pastor, director of the Center for Research on North America at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The Alternative to Detention Case Management System assigns algorithmic risk profiles, and agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employ these technologies. Asylum requests through the CBP One application incorporate biometric data and social media information that become part of a digital history.
Reported impact
These systems can reproduce biases and assume migrants represent a risk by default, raising concerns that algorithms assume a migrant is inherently dangerous when evaluating how 'dangerous' a person is.
Migrants face fear and isolation within surveilled environments. There is a legal gap regarding the pace of technological advancement, limiting capacity to understand how these systems function and challenge automated decisions that may affect rights.
Index analysis
The border has shifted from a purely physical boundary to a digital one through the use of AI and biometric identification tools. Vulnerable communities and migrants provide information that feeds algorithmic systems, which technology companies use according to their own purposes.
Governance controls
Protocols need to be strengthened based on human rights, privacy protection, and a humanistic perspective, with reduced exposure of vulnerable communities. Development of capacity to understand how these technologies function and challenge automated decisions affecting rights is needed to address the legal lag.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.