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Federal immigration officials have extensive technology at their disposal

by Paige Gross, Louisiana Illuminator
February 1, 2025

As President Donald Trump deploys federal agents to carry out plans of mass deportations at the start of his term, he has a massive amount of technology at his disposal to track, categorize and surveil immigrants.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Citizen and Immigration Services have spent $7.8 billion on immigration technologies from 263 different companies since 2020, the New York Times reported this week. The technologies include biometric tracking, such as facial recognition, voice analyzing, and fingerprint scanning, location tracking via software and ankle monitoring and rapid DNA testing tools.

The agencies also have access to investigative tools that can search through emails, text messages and other files on locked phones, and they contract with data analytics firms to store and sort through massive amounts of data compiled on immigrants currently in the U.S.

The access to these technologies is not new to the Trump administration. Much of the spending on these tech contracts began during President Joe Biden’s term, and many tools were designed for investigations of drug traffickers and other criminals, beginning after the 9/11 attacks.

Marina Shepelsky, an immigration attorney based in New York, said four groups of immigrants are being targeted in Trump’s raids. Those with criminal convictions will likely be the highest priority, she said, but those who have been issued a deportation order by a judge or those who entered the country under the Biden administration are also targets.

Anyone who is in the U.S. unlawfully without status, meaning without a visa, or on an expired visa, is at risk, Shepelsky said.

The Department of Homeland Security outlines the various uses of the AI technology that it has at its disposal, but Shepelsky said she sees it likely being focused on combing through immigration records, and cross-referencing data from visa applications, criminal records and social media platforms.

Federal agents are also likely using predictive AI modeling in various ways, she said, like assessing the likelihood of overstaying visas or engaging in criminal behavior. The department collects known information, like immigration status, compliance history, caregiver status and criminal history, and assigns each person something called a “hurricane score.” The score, ranked 1-5, is calculated by a machine learning algorithm designed to determine if a person may flee immigration proceedings.

Shepelsky warns of the systematic biases AI algorithms can produce; “[they] may unfairly target certain demographics, increasing risks of racial profiling,” she said.

Peter Salib, an assistant professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center said he, too, believes AI can streamline a lot about the immigration process. If your goal is to target immigrants who have committed serious crimes, as was policy under the Biden and Obama administrations, he said, AI can probably help you do that well.

“AI can really help you accomplish your goal and impose fewer costs on the people who don’t need to be swept up in enforcement,” Salib said.

But access to these technologies and intent are different things, Salib said. While the Biden administration had access to these tools in recent years, it was not planning the wide-reaching deportation efforts we’re seeing Trump execute now.

“The technology exists out in the world, and so even if you’re scared of a kind of slippery slope into using it poorly, it’s not really clear that you can get off that slope just by declining to use it when you are in the administration that has the ‘good’ goals,” Salib said.

Though there are ethical concerns with AI, there’s potential to improve parts of border security and citizenship processes with the technology, Shepelsky said. It’s helped process visa applications faster and detect fraudulent documents, as well as streamlined high-demand employment visas.

Technology will likely continue to play a role in Trump’s immigration policies and in other parts of his early administration agenda, Salib said.

“I think it’s the world we live in now,” Salib said. “And the choice we have is about policy more than about what technology is available to the people who want to enforce policies.”

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

Louisiana mother, New York doctor indicted for allegedly giving minor abortion pills

by Lorena O’Neil, Louisiana Illuminator
January 31, 2025

A Baton Rouge-area grand jury indicted a New York doctor and a Louisiana mother Friday on felony charges for allegedly providing an illegal abortion with drugs obtained through the mail.

It is the first criminal case of its kind in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which triggered Louisiana’s strict abortion ban. 

Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company, Nightingale Medical, and the mother of the minor in question were all indicted in the 18th Judicial District Court. The Illuminator is not identifying the mother in order to protect the minor’s identity. The news was first reported by WAFB-TV.

District Attorney Tony Clayton said the mother was taken into custody at West Baton Rouge Parish Jail. She had posted bond as of Friday evening. Her bond amount was not immediately available.

Prosecutors claim the mother ordered abortion medication from Carpenter, who sent it to her in the mail, and the mother reportedly gave it to her pregnant child. 

“The minor child was home alone, felt that she had to take the pill because of what her mother told her,” Clayton said in an interview with Talk Louisiana. 

In an interview with the Illuminator, Clayton said he will be personally trying this case alongside Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.  Their prosecution involves a law approved in 2022, when then state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, a Slidell Republican, authored the proposal that makes it a crime to knowingly cause an abortion through medication.

The pregnant person cannot be charged with a crime under this law, and Clayton said he would not have prosecuted the minor in this instance.

Breaking the law carries penalties of one to five years in prison and a fine range of $5,000-$50,000. The same measure also made it illegal to obtain such drugs through the mail from out of state.

Murrill weighed in on the indictments via social media Friday.

“It is illegal to send abortion pills into this State and it’s illegal to coerce another into having an abortion,” she said. “I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law.”

The crime of “coerced abortion” was not cited in the indictment, but the law involving that crime is what led to Louisiana becoming the first state to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. The designation typically applies to highly addictive drugs. Mifepristone and misoprostol are not addictive, and both have multiple uses beyond abortion and are on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. 

In his interview with Talk Louisiana, Clayton referred to the drugs as “poison,” comparing them to fentanyl, and said doctors can’t “hide behind the borders of New York” to ship the medication to Louisiana. [Mifepristone and misoprostol are not related to fentanyl.] 

“To put a pill in commerce that ultimately [goes] into the mouth and stomach of a child, I believe that some folks have to answer to that,” Clayton said. “If it’s legal in New York, keep it up there. Don’t do it down here.”

New York has shield laws intended to protect telehealth providers. 

Carpenter is also being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for allegedly sending pills to the state, but the charges are not criminal.

Carpenter is one of the founders of the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine (ACT). In a statement to the Illuminator, ACT said it stands behind New York’s shield laws. 

“The case out of Louisiana against a licensed New York doctor is the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes women’s access to reproductive healthcare throughout this country,” reads the statement. “Make no mistake, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, we’ve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with women’s rights. It’s no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.”

This is a developing story. It was most recently updated at 8:34 p.m. Friday.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

Louisiana, New York leaders spar after doctor indicted for out-of-state abortion pill prescription

by Lorena O’Neil, Louisiana Illuminator
February 1, 2025

A Louisiana grand jury indicted a New York doctor and a Baton Rouge-area mother Friday on felony charges for allegedly causing a criminal abortion by giving her pregnant teen daughter medication obtained through the mail. 

Soon afterward, officials from both states immediately went public with their stances on the case. It is the first criminal case of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, released a video calling the charges “outrageous,” saying it is why she signed “very tough” shield laws into place protecting telehealth providers.

“I will never, under any circumstances, turn this doctor over to the state of Louisiana under any extradition request,” Hochul said. “Republicans are fighting to have a national abortion ban that will deny reproductive freedom to women, not just in our state, but all across America. We must stand firm and fight this.”

Shortly after the governor’s video was published, The Illuminator spoke with 18th Judicial District Attorney Tony Clayton, a Democrat who is prosecuting the case alongside Republican state Attorney General Liz Murrill. He said he finds it “shocking” that Dr. Margaret Carpenter and representatives from her clinic are not going to come to Louisiana to be arrested and taken into custody.

“You broke the law in the state of Louisiana and you ought to come down here and answer the charges,” Clayton said.

Clayton was among the most ardent supporters of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s “tough on crime” legislation, including his successful push to treat 17-year-old violent offenders as adults in the state criminal justice system.     

Landry’s office did not respond to the Illuminator’s request for comment, but the governor did reply to Hochul’s social media post. Carpenter provided “illegal abortion pills to a teen who didn’t want them,” Landry said. “This case is about coercion. Plain and simple.” he added.

Fixed it for you, @GovKathyHochul.

News flash, the American people aren’t falling for your lies!

This case is about coercion. Plain and simple. pic.twitter.com/7saVnsPJZh

— Governor Jeff Landry (@LAGovJeffLandry) January 31, 2025

The teenager’s mother posted bond late Friday after being taken into custody at West Baton Rouge Parish Jail. Her bond amount was not listed.

Clayton and Murrill’s prosecution involves a law approved in 2022 that makes it a crime to knowingly cause an abortion with medication. It carries penalties of one to five years in prison and a fine range of $5,000-$50,000. The same measure also made it illegal to obtain such drugs through the mail from out of state.

Clayton claims the prosecution will provide evidence that the teen’s mother filled out an online questionnaire to order the pills from Carpenter’s company, Nightingale Medical. The mother paid $150 for the medication with her credit card and received it in the mail. Clayton alleges the teen’s mother gave her daughter an ultimatum to take the medication or move out of her house. 

“The child took the pill and was home by herself,” Clayton said, adding that she later started bleeding, called 911 and was taken to a hospital in an ambulance. A police officer who responded to the call initially thought the teen was experiencing a miscarriage but “found out” she had taken abortion pills provided from an out-of-state clinic, the district attorney said. 

Police ultimately brought the case to his office, according to Clayton.

“The mother’s the one who paid for it with a credit card and put the whole deal in action,” he said. “The doctor is being charged because [she] mailed the pill here.”

Louisiana law does not allow a pregnant person to be charged with criminal abortion, and Clayton said he “absolutely” would not charge the minor involved.

When asked if he thought a child under the age of 18 could consent to an abortion, Clayton answered the question by tailoring it to this specific case.

“The evidence will show in this case that the child had planned a gender reveal, and the child wanted to keep her baby,” he said. “This is not a question of her wanting to have the abortion.”

“I’m charging the mother because she ordered the pill, and she paid for the pill with her credit card and she gave the pill to a minor. That’s illegal in the state of Louisiana.” Clayton said. 

In a written statement Friday, Murrill implied the teen’s mother compelled her daughter to take the abortion pills.

“The allegations in this case have nothing to do with reproductive health care, this is about coercion,” Murrill said. “This is about forcing somebody to have an abortion who didn’t want one.”

“We investigated this case. District Attorney Tony Clayton brought it to a grand jury. The grand jury unanimously and quickly indicted,” the attorney general added.

When the Illuminator asked the attorney general’s office if she plans to add the crime of coerced abortion to the charges against the teen’s mother, spokesman Lester Duhé responded to the question by referring to her original statement.

A separate coerced abortion law approved last year made Louisiana the first state to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. The designation typically applies to highly addictive drugs. Mifepristone and misoprostol are not addictive, and both have multiple uses beyond abortion and are on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. 

Murrill also responded to Gov. Hochul’s video post on social media.

“Cheerleading for the alleged coerced abortion of a young girl is sick and barbaric, Governor Hochul,” Murril wrote. “It’s not ‘reproductive health care,’ it’s force.”

When asked if he thought charges of coerced abortion would be added to the case, Clayton said he is focusing on the defendants “dispensing, delivering, aiding and abetting and causing an abortion” through the medication.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat best known for winning a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump, released her own statement about the indictment against Carpenter.

“The criminalization of abortion care is a direct and brazen attack on Americans’ bodily autonomy and their right to reproductive freedom,” James said. “This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American. Medication abortion is safe, effective, and necessary, and New York will ensure that it remains available to all Americans who need it.”

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.