Report: ICE to track license plates using Bay Area company's technology

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has signed a deal that gives it access to a Bay Area company's massive license plate database, a new report says.

Livermore-based Vigilant Solutions' database contains data on a couple of billion license plates, tech news site the Verge reports. The data is collected in conjunction with law enforcement and other agencies throughout the nation, according to the company's website.

Vigilant Solutions has not yet responded to this news publication's multiple requests for comment.

“Like most other law enforcement agencies, ICE uses information obtained from license plate readers as one tool in support of its investigations,” ICE spokesperson Dani Bennett, who identified Vigilant as the company the agency struck a deal with, said to the Verge. “ICE is not seeking to build a license plate reader database, and will not collect nor contribute any data to a national public or private database through this contract.”

News about the ICE contract, finalized in late December, comes as the Bay Area is preparing for possible sweeping immigration raids, and as reports about deportations of residents from here and elsewhere are becoming more common.

Access to the database would allow ICE to track license plate locations for the last five years, according to a privacy assessment by the Department of Homeland Security cited in the Verge report.

“Knowing the previous locations of a vehicle can help determine the whereabouts of subjects of criminal investigations or priority aliens to facilitate their interdiction and removal,” the assessment says.

Using the system, ICE agents also could receive alerts about certain license plates. Vigilant also offers a mobile app that “can create and manage hotlists of vehicles of interest,” according to its website.

Among the Bay Area law enforcement agencies that use Vigilant's systems or share information with the company are Alameda, Dublin, Brentwood and Antioch, as well as the California Highway Patrol.

Earlier this week, California state senators voted to reconsider a bill, SB 712, that would allow drivers to cover their license plates when their vehicles are parked.