Oct 26, 2020; Inglewood, California, USA; Detailed view of a personalized California license plate at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
San Diego, California – The San Diego City Council approved its budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Tuesday night, voting to continue funding a controversial police surveillance tool over vocal objections from immigrant rights advocates and civil liberties groups.
At the center of the debate are Automated License Plate Readers, or ALPRs — high-speed camera systems installed by the San Diego Police Department in late 2023 that scan and store data on passing vehicles. Since their rollout, residents have raised alarm over how that data is used, and more specifically, who it is shared with.
During Tuesday’s public comment period, community members expressed deep concern that ALPR data could be used by federal immigration agencies amid heightened immigration crackdowns. “ALPRs do not make us feel safer,” one speaker told the council. “They make us feel a sense of distrust in our leaders and community members.”
Others framed the program as a moral and financial misstep, one that helps ICE hunt down and separate families and neighbors.
Their concerns were not without grounding. The San Diego Police Department’s most recent surveillance report confirmed that the department had shared ALPR data with federal agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection. While the report claimed those data transfers were unrelated to immigration enforcement, critics said the pattern undermines public trust.
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement, HSI, and CBP do not have access to the city ALPR cameras,” SDPD said in a statement. But for some, that assurance rings hollow.
Seth Hall of the Trust SD Coalition, which advocates for transparency in surveillance policy, called the program a dangerous overreach. “This technology has never been proven to bend the curve of crime,” Hall said. “What it does is, it takes our data, it transfers it to powerful people… and prevents us from funding the neighborhood services we should be funding.”
Supporters argue ALPRs have yielded results. In one case cited by officials, the technology helped apprehend a suspect in an attempted kidnapping in Mission Valley.
Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, acknowledged the tension. “Our technology should never be used for immigration enforcement,” she said. “Ever.”
The Public Safety Committee is expected to revisit the issue on June 18 at City Hall.
