‘A privacy nightmare’: the $400m surveillance package inside the US immigration bill

As seen with a thermal camera, a US border patrol agent speaks with asylum seekers on the other side of razor wire at the US-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, last year. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

The $118bn bipartisan immigration bill that the US Senate introduced on Sunday is already facing steep opposition, despite a strong statement of support from Joe Biden. The 370-page measure, which also would provide additional aid to Israel and Ukraine, has drawn the ire of both Democrats and Republicans over its proposed asylum and border laws. But privacy, immigration and digital liberties experts are also concerned over another aspect of the bill: more than $400m in funding for additional border surveillance and data-gathering tools.

The lion’s share of that funding will go to two main tools: $170m for additional autonomous surveillance towers and $204m for “expenses related to the analysis of DNA samples”, which includes those collected from migrants detained by border patrol, according to the text of the bill.