Lawmakers Warn Democratic Governors That States Are Sharing Drivers’ Data With Ice

A group of Democratic lawmakers person sent letters to respective authorities governors, including successful Arizona, California, Colorado, and Wisconsin, informing that their states are inadvertently sharing drivers’ information pinch national migration authorities.

The letter, which was first reported by Reuters, told governors that their states are providing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and different national agencies “with frictionless, self-service entree to nan individual information of each of your residents,” done a non-profit managed by authorities constabulary agencies called nan National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, aliases Nlets.

Nlets facilitates nan sharing of authorities residents’ individual data, successful this lawsuit drivers’ licence data, betwixt state, local, and national constabulary agencies. 

The lawmakers asked nan group of governors to extremity nan believe and artifact entree to ICE and “other national agencies that are now acting arsenic Trump’s daze troops.” 

ICE and Nlets did not instantly respond to TechCrunch’s petition for comment. 

For 2 decades, astir states person made their residents’ data, specified arsenic drivers’ licenses and different accusation from each state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) database, disposable for hunt and retrieval to astir 18,000 national and section rule enforcement agencies crossed nan U.S. and Canada. This believe allows those agencies to straight entree residents’ information without nan knowledge aliases engagement of immoderate authorities employee, according to nan letter.

The missive said that it’s imaginable that ICE is utilizing drivers’ licence photos for their facial nickname app called Mobile Fortify, which agents are utilizing to place group connected nan thoroughfare and relies connected 200 cardinal photos.

According to nan letter, Nlets facilitated “over 290 cardinal queries for DMV data,” pinch much than 290,000 queries from ICE and immoderate 600,000 from Homeland Security Investigations during nan twelvemonth earlier October 1, 2025. 

“It is now abundantly clear that a awesome logic that truthful fewer states person locked down nan information they stock done Nlets is because of an accusation gap,” sounds nan letter. “Because of nan method complexity of Nlets’ system, fewer authorities government officials understand really their authorities is sharing their residents’ information pinch national and out-of-state agencies,” publication nan letter. 

The missive said blocking nan agencies’ “unfettered access” would not forestall national agencies obtaining accusation from states for solving superior crimes, but taking action would “increase accountability and trim abuse” by allowing authorities labor to reappraisal information requests first.

The lawmakers noted that immoderate states, including Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Washington precocious restricted what benignant of information ICE tin entree via Nlets, and reminded nan governors that it is up to them to extremity nan believe astatine immoderate time.