Lawmakers warn Democratic governors that states are sharing drivers' data with ICE | TechCrunch

"The letter, which was first reported by Reuters, told governors that their states are providing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies "with frictionless, self-service access to the personal data of all of your residents," through a non-profit managed by state police agencies called the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or Nlets. Nlets facilitates the sharing of state residents' personal data, in this case drivers' license data, between state, local, and federal police agencies."

"For two decades, most states have made their residents' data, such as drivers' licenses and other information from each state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) database, available for search and retrieval to approximately 18,000 federal and local law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and Canada. This practice allows those agencies to directly access residents' data without the knowledge or involvement of any state employee, according to the letter."

"The letter said that it's possible that ICE is using drivers' license photos for their facial recognition app called Mobile Fortify, which agents are using to identify people on the street and relies on 200 million photos. According to the letter, Nlets facilitated "over 290 million queries for DMV data," with more than 290,000 queries from ICE and some 600,000 from Homeland Security Investigations during the year before October 1, 2025."

Democratic lawmakers sent letters to governors in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Wisconsin warning that states are inadvertently sharing drivers' data with federal immigration authorities. The letters state that states provide ICE and other federal agencies with frictionless, self-service access to personal data through the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (Nlets). Nlets facilitates sharing of DMV data among state, local, and federal police agencies. For two decades most states have made DMV records searchable by roughly 18,000 federal and local agencies across the U.S. and Canada, enabling direct access without state-employee involvement. The letters warn ICE may be using drivers' license photos in its Mobile Fortify facial-recognition app. Nlets logged over 290 million DMV queries, including more than 290,000 from ICE and about 600,000 from Homeland Security Investigations in the year before October 1, 2025. Lawmakers asked governors to block federal agency access.

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