Ranking Members Krishnamoorthi and Garcia Demand Accountability from Flock Group Inc. for Enabling Dangerous Abortion Surveillance and Immigration Tracking

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, and Congressman Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, launched a formal investigation into Flock Group Inc. over its role in enabling invasive surveillance practices that threaten the privacy, safety, and civil liberties of women, immigrants, and other vulnerable Americans. The investigation follows alarming reports that Flock’s automatic license plate reader (ALPR) system, marketed as a public safety tool, has been exploited by law enforcement to track women across state lines, including into Illinois, following abortion care and to conduct unauthorized immigration enforcement in jurisdictions with sanctuary protections.

“Flock Group Inc. cannot claim to protect public safety while enabling surveillance that undermines reproductive freedom and civil rights,” Congressman Krishnamoorthi said. “When ALPR is used to undermine local public safety laws, it erodes trust and violates the very policies meant to protect our communities. This investigation is about ensuring Americans are not tracked, targeted, or prosecuted simply for exercising their rights.”

The joint letter from Congressmen Krishnamoorthi and Garcia highlights a disturbing case in which a Texas sheriff’s office used Flock’s “National Lookup” tool to search for a woman who accessed reproductive care by entering “had an abortion, search for female.” The search reportedly spanned over 6,800 networks and pulled data from more than 83,000 cameras, including in Illinois and Washington, states where abortion remains legal. One jurisdiction whose data was accessed, the Mount Prospect Police Department in Congressman Krishnamoorthi’s home state of Illinois, later withdrew from the program, calling the search a “misuse” of its systems.

The letter also raises serious concerns about the use of Flock data for immigration enforcement. Recently, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) analyst reportedly accessed Richmond, Virginia’s Flock network to conduct immigration-related queries, despite the city’s explicit policy barring such cooperation with federal agencies. Richmond has since blocked federal access to its Flock data.

Ranking Members Krishnamoorthi and Garcia wrote that these actions represent “a gross misuse and abuse of surveillance technology.” They went on to warn that “individuals cannot choose whether their license plate data is collected and scanned by Flock,” and that this information “becomes accessible to local officials from unrelated jurisdictions across the country.”

The Ranking Members are requesting a full briefing and production of documents from Flock by late July. Specific requests include:

• A full accounting of all National Lookup searches involving the terms “abortion,” “ICE,” or “CBP”
• Contracts or communications between Flock and Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• Internal policies governing data access, justification requirements, and enforcement protocols
• Documentation of any action taken to address misuse or violations of Flock’s “Ethical Creed”

This investigation builds on Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi’s longstanding oversight of data privacy, civil liberties, and post-Roe v. Wade surveillance concerns, and reflects a growing effort to hold technology companies accountable for the real-world consequences of their tools.

The full letter is available here.