Quiz

Question 9

Were you born outside the United States and either became a citizen at birth or as a child?

Because you obtained citizenship through your parents

Some people born abroad are citizens at birth, or become citizens automatically as children.

However, there is no DHS database that contains a comprehensive list of foreign-born US citizens who automatically derived or acquired citizenship by operation of law upon birth, adoption, or the naturalization of a parent — a group that comprises more than 4 million people.

In cases of "derived" or "acquired" citizenship...

Unless there is an encounter with DHS agencies, DHS would not have a record of your status. If a border agent stops you before you have proof of your citizenship, your biometrics are recorded in IDENT/HARTOpens in new tab. A record in TECS/ICMOpens in new tab might detail the encounter, and any immigration arrests would be available in EIDOpens in new tab. But there would be no proof of your status in any database search by law enforcement.

If you are booked in a jail that participates in the Criminal Alien Program (CAP), they might flag you for an ICE hold.

If you are arrested, ICE may use these and other data systems while trying to determine your citizenship status: 

To see what databases would track you if your answer had been no, click the no button.

If you encounter DHS agents at any time

If you encountered any DHS agents or agencies at any time, your biometric data and information might be recorded in:

To see what databases would track you if your answer had been yes, click the yes button.

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Of the 13 monsters in this quiz, it looks like your data may be tracked by the following:

But there may be other smaller surveillance databases not covered in the quiz.

You may be asking yourself "What can we do?".

What now?

To learn more, check out the full From Data Criminalization to Prison Abolition Report.

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More about this quiz

There is no single database that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can consult to find a list of everyone they are able to deport.

As a workaround, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cross-checks many existing datasets. They use information from international visitors, visa holders, and arrest and conviction records. These datasets are not always reliable  at determining legal status. They are also deeply flawed, racist, and xenophobic.

More and more, DHS buys data from corporations to supplement their own databases. They can buy archives of location history, face and voice recognition files, and iris scans. Artificial intelligence tools use this data to predict behavior and infer relationships between people, places, and objects (like vehicles).

We spent months researching databases and data-sharing. But contractors and technologies change all the time, and many government data systems are shrouded in secrecy. We do not claim that the databases listed here make up a complete list, nor is it possible to make that list. Rather, we hope that this tool hints at the tangled and complex web of data extraction and criminalization.

The fight against migrant exploitation, racist border securitization, and deportation is a fight against data criminalization. It is a fight for collective self-determination and data liberation. Read more in our full report.