{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-hears-damning-testimony-on-flock-surveillance-camera-misuse/", "WATCH: Padilla Hears Damning Testimony on Flock Surveillance Camera Misuse", "2026-09-23", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Alex Padilla", "P000145", "www.padilla.senate.gov", "padilla", "https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised serious concerns about Flock surveillance cameras, particularly their misuse for immigration enforcement.\n\nAt a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Padilla questioned Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) about the widespread use of Flock technology among local, state, and federal officials as well as the private sector. Padilla also raised concerns about Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers\u2019 ability to access Flock data despite Flock\u2019s claims that it does not contract with ICE.\n\nKey Excerpts:\n\nPADILLA RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT FLOCK DATA SHARING WITH ICE\n\nPADILLA: Broad data sharing with ICE: Is it happening or is it not happening? Flock claims that it does not partner with ICE, and ICE does not have direct access to Flock cameras, or their systems, or their data. But we know that ICE is still able to access Flock data through state and local law enforcement agencies that have entered into agreements, cooperative agreements, with ICE, known as 287(g) agreements. So, can you explain in more detail how these agreements can function as a loophole for ICE or other immigration enforcement agencies to access data that they otherwise couldn\u2019t?\n\n[\u2026]\n\nMARLOW: I would point out Flock seems to change its story week to week. It\u2019s hard to even remember. But they did say for a long period of time, that ICE does not have direct access to Flock data, and that was true. But the key word there is \u201cdirect.\u201d Exactly. And so, it doesn\u2019t even take a 287(g) agreement, although that\u2019s obviously a major problem.\n\nAll it takes is one officer in one department who is a customer of Flock and participates in their nationwide data-sharing program, and you get a call from, be it ICE or any other federal agency, that says, \u201cHey, can you run a search for me?\u201d And either because they believe in the cause that that federal agency is pursuing, or they just want to be on good terms with them because they may need something from them tomorrow, they say, \u201cHappy to help.\u201d\n\nAnd Flock never acknowledges that no security procedures that\u2019s put in place do anything to protect against the misuse of its system.\n\nPADILLA: The question becomes how do we close that loophole?\n\nMARLOW: You ban them, sir. You ban them.\n\nVideo of Padilla\u2019s remarks is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-24T09:44:48Z", "2026-09-24T09:45:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-hears-damning-testimony-on-flock-surveillance-camera-misuse/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5547177754342556, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}