School security cameras in the United States, originally installed to keep students safe, are reportedly being used to assist federal immigration enforcement, according to an investigation by The 74, co-published with The Guardian. Audit logs from several Texas school districts show that police departments are accessing license plate reader data from schools to track immigration-related cases.The technology, provided by Atlanta-based Flock Safety, captures license plate numbers, timestamps, and location information. While schools purchase these devices for campus safety, the data can be shared across a national police network, allowing agencies in other states to run searches. In some cases, searches were explicitly carried out to support the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration efforts.
Schools caught in a national surveillance network
Records from Texas districts such as Alvin Independent School District reveal that over 700,000 searches were conducted in just one month. Of these, 620 were related to immigration enforcement. Law enforcement officers said they often assist federal agencies “without hesitation,” according to The 74, raising concerns among parents, educators, and civil rights advocates.Phil Neff, research coordinator at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, told The 74, “Out-of-state law enforcement using school cameras for purposes unrelated to student safety strains any sense of appropriate technology use.” Similarly, Ed Vogel from the NOTICE Coalition told The 74 that the scale of these searches shows how “dangerous these tools are” when used beyond their intended purpose.
Educators, parents call for accountability
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the practice an “egregious end run around the Constitution” in a statement to The 74, warning that accessing campus feeds violates the rights of students and families “to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.” Her union has sued the Trump administration after it ended a longstanding policy against immigration enforcement near schools.Adam Wandt, attorney and associate professor at New York City’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told The 74 that while license plate readers can help solve serious crimes, the broad sharing of school data for immigration purposes raises significant privacy concerns. Vogel added, in an interview with The 74, that students and parents should demand transparency about whether their schools’ camera data is being shared with immigration authorities.
A technology meant for safety, used for enforcement
Flock Safety maintains in a blog post that local schools control how data is shared and that federal agencies cannot access cameras directly. However, public records show that nationwide sharing is common, often approved with minimal review by participating agencies. Privacy advocates warn that such use could trigger broader debates in school districts across the U.S., emphasizing the “unique responsibility” schools have to protect their students, as noted by Wandt in The 74.
