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DeWine Warns Feds: Don't Use Ohio Facial Data For ICE Raids

By Jo Ingles

Published July 11, 2019 at 9:43 PM EDT

Gov. Mike DeWine (R) says federal authorities have been able to access Ohio’s facial recognition database that includes Ohioan’s driver’s license photos. But DeWine says those photos shouldn’t be used for sweeping surveillance “dragnets” of Ohioans.

Federal immigration officials are ramping up efforts to crack down on people who lack legal residency status. As part of those investigations, some states have been asked to provide photos from driver’s licenses so the feds can use facial recognition software for identification and location purposes.

DeWine says, as attorney general, he appointed two separate bipartisan groups that came up with rules to ensure law enforcement agencies that have access to the state’s facial recognition database are not using it improperly.

“This is not a situation where we take BMV pictures and just dump them to the FBI," DeWine says.

DeWine says these pictures have been used by police agencies for decades to identify dangerous criminals. He notes facial recognition is just a faster process and adds it doesn’t mean anyone identified by the technology is guilty of anything. DeWine says using it in a way that suggests otherwise would be considered abuse of the system.