A few Senate Democrats introduced a bill called the ‘‘ICE Out of Our Faces Act,” which would ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from using facial recognition technology.

The bill would make it “unlawful for any covered immigration officer to acquire, possess, access, or use in the United States—(1) any biometric surveillance system; or (2) information derived from a biometric surveillance system operated by another entity.” All data collected from such systems in the past would have to be deleted. The proposed ban extends beyond facial recognition to cover other biometric surveillance technologies, such as voice recognition.

The proposed ban would prohibit the federal government from using data from biometric surveillance systems in court cases or investigations. Individuals would have a right to sue the federal government for financial damages after violations, and state attorneys general would be able to bring suits on behalf of residents.

The bill was submitted yesterday by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who held a press conference about the proposal with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and US Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). The Senate bill is also cosponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“This is a dangerous moment for America,” Markey said at the press conference, saying that ICE and CBP “have built an arsenal of surveillance technologies that are designed to track and to monitor and to target individual people, both citizens and non-citizens alike. Facial recognition technology sits at the center of a digital dragnet that has been created in our nation.”