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ICE protester says her Global Entry was revoked after agent scanned her face

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/ice-protester-says-her-global-entry-was-revoked-after-agent-scanned-her-face/
91•theahura•2h ago

Comments

gnabgib•2h ago
Small discussion earlier (18 points, 7 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845610
SilverElfin•2h ago
Completely authoritarian and unacceptable. This entire saga shows the American political system has serious flaws where it cannot hold the executive branch accountable.
hackingonempty•1h ago
It is not a flaw but a choice made by the GOP.
foweltschmerz•1h ago
If it can be exploited by a bad actor, it is a flaw.
SpicyLemonZest•1h ago
This story in particular seems like a flaw. There should not be such a thing as a privilege that the executive branch can revoke with no explanation or process.
BrenBarn•1h ago
The flaw is that they are able to make such a choice.
direwolf20•53m ago
Every government is always able to turn totalitarian. That's why voting is important. You don't vote for the totalitarian.
clipsy•1h ago
It's not "cannot" but "will not", and the flaw is not with the American political system but with the GOP and the American populace. Congress could absolutely rein this in at any time if Republicans in Congress cared to do so; the Supreme Court could rein this in at any time if the Republicans on the Supreme Court cared to do so. Do not let yourself be convinced that the problem is Trump or a too-powerful executive; the problem is an entire party and the people who cheerfully vote for it.
zeroonetwothree•1h ago
SCOTUS can only rule on cases presented to it. AFAIK there has not been a relevant case submitted to them.
MengerSponge•1h ago
SCOTUS has already ruled on cases that were presented to them and now we're contending with a mad king.
bsder•1h ago
How on earth can you say that with a straight face?

> Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases. The extent of ICE’s noncompliance is almost certainly substantially understated. This list is confined to orders issued since January 1, 2026, and the list was hurriedly compiled by extraordinarily busy judges.

> ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.

Ref: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230...

This is an official filing--facts, not a news report. A judge placed his job on the line and said these things in a written, filed, official ruling.

The problem isn't judicial rulings; the problems are petulant bullies who simply ignore the rulings; and completely subservient sycophants who only can say "As you wish, master."

SilverElfin•1h ago
I agree the voters and party are a problem, but disagree that we shouldn’t do more. We need better checks and balances on an administration that willfully and casually violates constitutional rights all the time. Not to mention the constant corruption and grifting that enriches the Trump family. We should have a system that can protect against this even when the majority makes a bad voting decision.
direwolf20•51m ago
There were some. They all got dismantled. Loyalists have been systematically installed into all relevant positions. What system is immune to this? There is none. Voters have to take responsibility for what they voted for, which is the complete destruction of the United States of America as a political unit.
BrenBarn•1h ago
But neither congress nor the presidency is an accurate representation of the will of the people, and that is one of the flaws with the American political system.
nickff•1h ago
The American political system has definite problems, but so does every other system. If you rank democracies by any metric, the USA has done rather well, if not the best. If you disagree with that statement, I invite you to list the countries you consider democratic, in your order of ‘successfulness’.
kortex•1h ago
Lol nowhere near the best, unfortunately. By multiple rankings.

https://www.democracymatrix.com/ranking

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu

nickff•56m ago
The Germans literally elected the Nazis, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions, and you think they’re better at democracy?
SilverElfin•52m ago
Yes, and in part because of that. The way they teach history and make their citizens resistant to authoritarianism through schooling is different from the really basic ways history is taught in America.
HWR_14•52m ago
The Germans have a new constitution and have kept the Nazis out of power with the new one.
direwolf20•51m ago
So far. Between a quarter and a fifth of the country, however, currently votes for the Nazi party.
defrost•50m ago
The US literally elected Trump.

Not that they had a wide field of choice and not that they can actually fire him.

Both reasons the US political system isn't all that great - it nosedived into a two party Hotelling's Law quagmire despite the founders being against party politics. It's hardly suprising a system centuries old and creaking failed to scale.

Washminster systems are a literal reaction to the cracks in the Westminster and Washington systems.

Maybe check those American Exceptionalism / Manifest Destiny blinkers and look about a little, it's hard to see out of a rut.

Diesel555•29m ago
Washington captured many issues of the party system in his farewell address. This can relate to many times in history for both parties.

"They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force—to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party; often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils and modified by mutual interests. However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/W...

defrost•2m ago
Nice quote, cheers for that.

Ben Franklin on why the Constitutions "Okay for now" but will likely "fall to a Despot" is worth a revist in these Trumpian times.

vineyardmike•48m ago
> The Germans literally elected the Nazis... you think they’re better at democracy

FYI - Germany changed their government after this regime fell, to ensure that it would become more democratic and harder to concentrate power in the executive. So they became more democratic as a learning process.

The US had an actual civil war (over slavery no less) and didn't change anything fundamental about their constitution nor government structure as a result. It was less deadly than the holocaust, but enduring a civil war is not a sign of a functioning democracy.

beeflet•56m ago
looks like objective data to me. Look at our democracy number, it's lower than a ton of other countries!
amscanne•55m ago
LOL, the first list also seems to use the US as the cut-off & first country that is a “deficient democracy”. The magic number must be between somewhere between 0.811 and 0.821.

Having spent a good chunk of my life in Canada and the US, a list that has Canada as more democratic doesn’t make any sense to me. In the end, it’s just a random mix of different measurements, weighted to tell whatever story you want to tell.

jaybrendansmith•1h ago
Agree. This is absolutely unacceptable by any measurement you can name. They are not respecting equality under the law, they are behaving like a terrorist regime. Every one of these people needs to be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent the US Constitution allows. End of Story.
ChrisArchitect•1h ago
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46832751

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46823261

chvid•1h ago
Since she was in her car they could have identified her by her car’s number plate - but facial recognition sounds scarier - which I guess is the point.
notepad0x90•1h ago
it's not speculation, they specifically tell people that they're using facial recognition. They threaten protestors that they're entering them into a domestic terrorist database using facial recognition. They're arresting people and detaining them for long periods of time without due process, even while having proof of citizenship (real id, passports) on them, because of a facial recognition hit.
caminante•37m ago
>They threaten protestors that they're entering them into a domestic terrorist database using facial recognition.

Is this in article? I figured it was using traveler photos stored in Customs/Border Patrol systems (e.g., Global Entry).

kmoser•1h ago
A plate identifies a car, not a driver.
caminante•29m ago
Unless you have permissive use or named drivers, the registered person should be driving the car.

Besides, it's a good guess:

>Hey Maggie

>I'm not Maggie. I'm Sarah. Here's my ID. Maggie loaned me her car.

mindslight•1h ago
> The agent stated that I was impeding their work

Note how these thugs just casually lie to create some fantasy narrative that runs completely counter to the ideas of the Constitution, an open society, and government responsible to The People. When the fascist talking heads get on TV and claim that agents had no choice but to execute another American because they were being "impeded", everyone would do well to remember how readily their whole organization characterizes passive and peaceful democratic activity as "impeding".

mannyv•40m ago
Technically, talking to and dealing with someone random instead of hunting their pray is literally impeding their work.

Distractions are not serious until they are.

mindslight•21m ago
So then, they're impeding themselves because they're unable to perform their jobs (which includes accepting that they're accountable to citizens) without getting their tighty whities all bunched up?
slowmovintarget•1h ago
The point of Global Entry is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement did a background check on you and decided you were cool. When you demonstrate against them, or do stuff like get in their way or block their agents... well, your background just changed, didn't it?

Why would someone with GE expect to keep it?

And part of signing up for Global Entry is getting your photo put in their database. They take a picture of you. You also already have a passport photo which must be current. Global Entry is so quick now because you don't even have to scan your passport; they use facial recognition.

tayo42•1h ago
Global entry is just a fast pass for getting through the border.

I can't tell any difference between arriving with global entry or using the regular lane. Who ever is working the border asks the same dumb questions that they ask in the regular line.

slowmovintarget•1h ago
That's not true. I have Global Entry, and it is dramatically faster. I've not even had to break stride walking past the entry agent.
tayo42•58m ago
How can you say that's not true when Ive crossed the border and been asked the same silly questions they ask on the regular line? Its just faster because the line is shorter.
mannyv•43m ago
I have GE and haven't even talked to an agent in the last four entries. The last time I didn't have to claim my baggage which was really strange (YVR).
psyklic•1h ago
> Why would someone with GE expect to keep it?

Peaceful protest is protected from retaliation by the First Amendment ...

direwolf20•53m ago
Which is now worth the paper it'd printed on.
vineyardmike•55m ago
> The point of Global Entry is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement did a background check on you and decided you were cool

Technically Global Entry is run by a different organization than ICE, but under the same parent organization. GE is run by "Customs and Border Protection", which is a sibling organization to ICE. Obviously it's all the US government, so it doesn't matter a ton...

> well, your background just changed, didn't it?

NO! This is an absolutely unreasonable take.

The bigger issue is "When you demonstrate against them" is a protected action by our laws. So taking a legally protected action and expecting to keep your government entitlements is reasonable. This is entirely a non-essential scheme to help punish people for speaking out against ICE; they're just pulling all the levers they have.

It is a reasonable assumption that the government would not declare you a higher-risk traveler because you attended a protest. Let's not pretend that this is reasonable behavior.

beej71•51m ago
> When you demonstrate against them, or do stuff like get in their way or block their agents...

Or do anything they don't like, like look at them funny.

mcfunley•1h ago
By the time this is all said and done we’re going to wind down the DHS in its entirety, bogus lists of political enemies included
direwolf20•54m ago
That won't happen. This only ends with the collapse of the country.
etrautmann•31m ago
That’s not helpful
dyauspitr•1h ago
The GOP is the party of censorship
AtlasBarfed•40m ago
I censor your censorship word and replace it with fascism
readams•1h ago
This is a bit thin to be drawing any conclusions. Only what one person claims. Has this happened to anyone else? Might there be another reason (that they're not telling us) that this happened?
AtlasBarfed•36m ago
The authoritarianism infrastructure was always there, it's been built for decades from red scare, McCarthyism, post 9/11 legislation, carnivore type monitoring with joke oversight, and now AI for the firehose.

We are extremely lucky that this is the form of authoritarianism is currently being exerted.

It could be so so so much worse

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