Detroiters deserve to feel safe in their neighborhoods — and safe from being tracked, cataloged, or swept into federal immigration enforcement through local data systems.

Across the country, communities are grappling with the rapid expansion of automated license plate readers. These cameras create a detailed log of where vehicles travel, often stored for weeks and made searchable through a nationwide network. While Detroit officials have said they are not sharing data directly with ICE, the structure of national data-sharing systems raises serious concerns about indirect access and mission creep.

At the same time, federal immigration enforcement has intensified in recent months, with highly publicized raids, detentions, and aggressive tactics that have fueled fear in communities nationwide. Reports of escalated enforcement actions have left many families afraid to drive to work, take children to school, attend church, or seek medical care. When local surveillance tools feed into broader data ecosystems, even unintentionally, they can deepen that fear and erode trust in city government.

Public safety should never come at the cost of turning Detroit into a part of a mass-surveillance network. The vast majority of people whose vehicles are scanned every day are not suspected of any crime. Yet their movements are logged and stored, creating a 24/7 record of daily life that could be accessed beyond our city’s control.

We call on Mayor Mary Sheffield, the Detroit City Council, and Police Chief Todd Bettison to immediately pause the use and expansion of Flock license plate readers, release full transparency reports on data sharing and retention practices, and enact strict local safeguards — including clear prohibitions on immigration-related searches and dramatically shortened data retention periods.

Detroit can lead with policies that protect both public safety and civil liberties. We urge our city’s leaders to ensure that no Detroiter’s daily movements are used — directly or indirectly — to fuel fear, federal overreach, or the targeting of immigrant families.

Sign to demand transparency, accountability, and real protections for Detroit residents.