Immigrants rights and privacy organizations applaud the City of Woodburn for turning off Flock cameras and urges other cities to follow suit

OREGON — The ACLU of Oregon along with its partners at Centro de Servicios Para Campesinos (“Centro”), and Latinos Unidos Siempre (LUS), Eyes Off Eugene, Innovation Law Lab, Unite Oregon, Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC), APANO, and Oregon for All applaud the City of Woodburn’s decision to turn off its Flock surveillance cameras. After advocacy led by Centro, LUS, and the local Woodburn community, the City decided to turn off their cameras for six months. The advocacy organizations join the community’s call to turn Flock off and keep it off. The organizations also urge other Oregon cities and counties with Flock systems to do the same.

Flock cameras are AI-powered surveillance cameras that are connected to a nationwide data network. Flock boasts that its cameras conduct 10 billion plate reads per month. Sold to local police departments and lawmakers as automatic license plate readers, these cameras allow law enforcement to do much more than scan license plates.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) want to use data from the nationwide Flock network so they can meet the Trump Administration’s extreme mass deportation objectives. In Oregon, ICE has been directed to increase its captures from 30 people per day to 50 people per day, which would total nearly 20,000 people in a single year.

An Oregon community that has been targeted severely by ICE’s chaos, unfairness, and cruelty is Woodburn. In October, Woodburn saw one of the state’s largest ICE raids when over 30 people were rounded up in a single early morning as farmworkers were heading to work.

Immigrants’ rights organizations have noted a suspected pattern of ICE surveillance activities just days before ICE returns to a location and arrests our immigrant neighbors. Also, in recent federal court filings, ICE officials have admitted that they are running license plates through some type of technology prior to making arrests.

Flock raises serious questions about local police’s ability to both use Flock and remain compliant with Oregon’s sanctuary law. That law not only prohibits local police personnel from cooperating with ICE’s immigration enforcement actions, but it also explicitly prohibits cities and counties from using public equipment and technology for the purpose of immigration enforcement, including investigating and detecting people for immigration enforcement.

While there has been no evidence yet made public that ICE has relied on Woodburn’s Flock camera data, there are several examples of ICE doing so in other locations. For example, recent research conducted at the University of Washington discovered that despite the state’s sanctuary laws, at least eight cities gave CBP direct access to their Flock data and CBP was able to get back door access to at least 10 additional police departments’ Flock data. At least one Oregon city, Sunriver, shares its Flock data with these same Washington cities. Not to mention that the Washington and Oregon ICE operations are conducted under the supervision of the same regional field office located in Seattle, Washington.

Flock’s contract provisions give local police the semblance of ownership over their data, obscuring easily exploitable loopholes created by other provisions. For example, both Woodburn’s contract and the City of Eugene’s contract include standard provisions that give Flock a license to use the data. The provisions permit Flock to disclose footage to law enforcement and other government officials if they have a good faith belief it is necessary for security or emergencies.

Misunderstanding of the technology and contracts, as well as a lack of oversight, have resulted in police across the country being totally unaware of their data being used for immigration purposes.

Other locations in Oregon have Flock contracts, including Lane County, Jackson County, Douglas County, Roseburg, Medford, and the Washington County District Attorney, among others. Earlier this year, Information for Public Use discovered that Medford crime analysts ran plates through its Flock system for ICE agents without requiring a warrant. It was not until public exposure and an after-the-fact inquiry that the Medford Police were able to determine that the particular plate run in question was for a drug investigation. There is little to no oversight for the public in ensuring that its police technology is not being used for immigration enforcement purposes.

Woodburn made the right choice to turn off Flock. The City of Eugene has also turned off their Flock cameras in response to public outcry. Advocates now urge Woodburn and Eugene to end their Flock programs entirely and call on other Oregon Cities and Counties to do the same.

Community advocates were essential in advocating for Woodburn’s decision:

Centro de Servicios Para Campesinos:

“Centro de Servicios Para Campesinos is proud of how the community showed up and showed out to defend our community and the attacks that they have been facing. This is one step in the right direction. The next should be ending the Flock system indefinitely, holding ICE agents accountable for their illegal and aggressive actions, and for the City of Woodburn and the Woodburn Police Department to serve and protect its residents from these attacks and create a fund that helps the families that are affected by these inhumane actions.”

LUS (Latinos Unidos Siempre):

“Although this is a temporary win for the Woodburn community, our advocacy does not end here. Latinos Unidos Siempre and Centro are demanding the complete removal of the Flock cameras. Our communities have been attacked violently from all angles, and it must end now.

We are proud to stand with a strong community that not only sustains this state economically but also puts food on our tables. No family should ever face separation — especially when that separation is carried out through violence.

Latinos Unidos Siempre and Centro will continue fighting until all families are safe and protected.”