• Predictive intelligence system flags vehicles based on travel patterns and routes
• Network extends far beyond 100-mile border zone into major metropolitan areas
• Houston resident held for hour, car searched after business trip flagged

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TDR) — The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide through a secretive surveillance program that identifies and detains people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, The Associated Press has found.

The predictive intelligence program uses a network of cameras to scan and record vehicle license plate information, with an algorithm flagging vehicles based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents then alert local law enforcement, resulting in traffic stops often cited for minor violations such as speeding, improper window tint or even a dangling air freshener.

Surveillance extends beyond border zones

The Border Patrol’s Conveyance Monitoring and Predictive Recognition System, or CMPRS, “collects license plate images and matches the processed images against established hot lists” to identify travel patterns indicative of illegal border-related activities, according to a fiscal year 2024 budget request to Congress.

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While the agency primarily operates within 100 miles of borders, its camera network extends along the southern border in Texas, Arizona and California, near the U.S.-Canada border, and reaches far into the interior. The AP identified cameras in metropolitan Detroit, near the Michigan-Indiana border capturing traffic toward Chicago, and at least four locations in the greater Phoenix area—one positioned more than 120 miles from the Mexican frontier.

I didn’t know it was illegal to drive in Texas. I assume for every one person like me who’s actually standing up, there’s a thousand people who just don’t have the means or the time. They just leave frustrated and angry. I think there are thousands of people getting treated this way.

The Border Patrol has defined its own criteria for suspicious behavior, stopping people for anything from driving on backcountry roads, using rental cars or making short trips to border regions. Cameras are often disguised in traffic safety equipment like drums, barrels and traffic cones.

Houston man’s lawsuit reveals coordination

In 2022, Alek Schott of Houston had his car searched by Bexar County sheriff’s deputies outside San Antonio after Border Patrol agents flagged his overnight business trip to Carrizo Springs. Federal agents knew he stayed in a hotel 80 miles from the border and met a female colleague before their business meeting.

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Deputies held Schott roadside for more than an hour and searched his vehicle. Nothing illegal was found. “The beautiful thing about the Texas Traffic Code is there’s thousands of things you can stop a vehicle for,” said Joel Babb, the sheriff’s deputy who stopped Schott’s car, in a deposition for Schott’s lawsuit alleging constitutional violations.

Documents released in the lawsuit revealed Babb participated in a WhatsApp group chat with Border Patrol agents called “Northwest Highway.” The AP obtained more than 70 pages of chat logs showing agents and deputies trading tips about vehicles’ travel patterns based on little more than quick trips to the border region.

Constitutional concerns raised

“We took Alek’s case because it was a clear-cut example of an unconstitutional traffic stop,” said Christie Hebert, who works at the nonprofit Institute for Justice and represents Schott. “What we found was something much larger—a system of mass surveillance that threatens people’s freedom of movement.”

Andrew Ferguson, a law professor at George Washington University, said “large-scale surveillance technology that’s capturing everyone and everywhere at every time” might be unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches.

The Border Patrol has worked to keep details of its license plate reader program hidden, with former officials saying the agency has proposed dropping charges rather than risk revealing placement and use of covert readers. The agency told the AP it does not detail “specific operational applications” for national security reasons.

In February, Lorenzo Gutierrez Lugo, a driver for a trucking company transporting belongings to families in Mexico, was stopped in Kingsville, Texas. Border Patrol had requested the stop, claiming his vehicle could contain contraband. Police and court records show speeding was merely a pretext.

Should federal surveillance programs require judicial oversight when monitoring American citizens’ travel patterns on public roads?

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