As the immigration crackdown under the Trump administration continues to impact communities across San Diego, privacy advocates are amplifying their demands to eliminate a contentious police surveillance initiative.
Critics are targeting the San Diego Police Department’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) program, arguing that the technology is not only costly but also potentially breaches state regulations limiting the sharing of sensitive data between local and federal law enforcement.
With the City Council set to discuss the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, advocates are urging members to defund the ALPR program.
The SDPD’s ALPR system collects information on millions of vehicles throughout San Diego each month, documenting details like color, make, model, location, and direction of travel.
This data is then stored in a database accessible to multiple federal law enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), raising concerns about the accessibility of this information to agencies responsible for immigration enforcement.
While the SDPD maintains discretion over which agencies receive this data, its annual reports have indicated that information shared with CBP was intended for criminal investigations unrelated to immigration concerns.
However, critics argue that this practice conflicts with state law.
California’s SB 34, passed in 2015, restricts local police departments from sharing ALPR data with not only private entities but also out-of-state or federal agencies, including law enforcement.
Erin Tsurumoto Grassi, associate director of Alliance San Diego, expressed significant concern regarding the potential misuse of ALPR data by federal immigration agencies, explaining that maintaining the program could threaten immigrant community members.
“City Council has the moral obligation to pull funding from ALPRs and instead put it into resources that protect and welcome immigrants,” she stated.
Both a spokesperson for the SDPD and Mayor Todd Gloria have not responded to inquiries from KPBS regarding the program.
Rachel Laing, a representative for the mayor, indicated that discussions regarding the ALPR system are ongoing, promising further comments once a decision is reached.
The Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology (TRUST) Coalition, which encompasses over 30 local advocacy groups, has consistently condemned San Diego’s expanding surveillance infrastructure.
In addition to posing risks to immigrant populations, the TRUST Coalition highlights inefficiencies and high costs associated with the ALPR system.
“If you cut the license plate reader program, you could keep libraries open all over the city for an extra half day,” said Lilly Irani, a TRUST Coalition member.
According to TRUST’s 2025 surveillance report, based on FBI data, the SDPD’s success in apprehending car thieves has shown little improvement since the introduction of ALPR technology in 2021.
The report further notes that fewer than 1% of all ALPR data searches yield usable information.
This means that the majority of the data collected is not only unhelpful but also tracks individuals who police have no valid reason to monitor.
In the previous fiscal year alone, the SDPD conducted over 140,000 queries within the ALPR database, yet according to the department’s assessments, only 0.2% of those searches contributed to successful investigations.
The city spent nearly $5 million on the ALPR program over the past two fiscal years.
In an April memorandum submitted to the City Council, the Privacy Advisory Board concluded that “this technology is more burdensome than beneficial.”
Despite the substantial criticism, the SDPD continues to uphold the ALPR program as a critical crime-fighting asset.
In their annual surveillance report, police officials praised the ALPR system as a “very effective” tool for addressing crime, particularly car theft.
They highlighted that officers perform “weekly audits” of the system, reporting no violations of SDPD policies or procedures.
Critics, however, argue that the lack of reported violations in internal audits seems misleading, especially considering that data was shared with federal agencies.
Irani stated, “The regulations have obviously failed, and this is a tool that’s too dangerous to actually have in public use.”
In a notable instance of successful local oversight, Tim Blood, a member of the Privacy Advisory Board, recounted an interaction with the San Diego Fire Department (SDFD) as evidence of effective regulation.
In compliance with the city’s TRUST ordinance, all departments must prepare an annual report regarding their use of surveillance technologies.
During this process, SDFD officials realized they had granted ICE access to lifeguard cameras in coastal areas like Mission Beach and Ocean Beach.
Instead of concealing this issue, Blood noted that SDFD embraced the opportunity to rectify it, stating, “They said, ‘hey, this is an opportunity for us to fix the problem.'”
With the guidance of the Privacy Advisory Board, SDFD successfully updated its policy to stop sharing camera data with ICE.
The board is currently involved in ongoing discussions with the SDPD to address community concerns related to surveillance practices.
image source from：https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2025/06/10/advocates-urge-san-diego-leaders-to-end-license-plate-surveillance-system-amid-trump-immigration-crackdown
