The **Trump administration** has filed complaints against New York, Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, arguing that state laws requiring **ICE** officers to display individual identifiers and prohibiting masks during raids endanger federal agents. Federal attorneys contend that these laws facilitate the use of facial recognition applications and doxing sites, specifically naming the art project **ICESpy**. ### The 'ICESpy' Controversy **ICESpy**, an art project created by artist **Kyle McDonald**, is at the heart of the administration's claims. Federal lawyers assert that individuals are using **ICESpy** to identify and potentially dox **ICE** officers. However, McDonald strongly refutes these allegations. According to McDonald, **ICESpy** relies on an outdated dataset of photos, job titles, and names from individuals who self-identified as **ICE** employees on **LinkedIn** nearly a decade ago. A review of this list, comprising just over 700 entries, revealed that most individuals held executive, administrative, or legal roles, with only a small fraction identified as “deportation officers” or related enforcement positions. Crucially, **ICE** has significantly expanded its workforce since the data for **ICESpy** was collected. In January, **ICE** announced a substantial increase in its agent and officer numbers, from 10,000 to 22,000. None of these newer personnel would be present in the **ICESpy** database, rendering the tool largely ineffective for identifying active field agents. **McDonald** emphasized the project's limitations to WIRED, stating, “The idea that someone could use a site like **ICESpy** and find an active **ICE** deportation officer in 2026 is absurd.” He also noted the lack of evidence provided by the administration to support claims of the site being used to search for family members of officers. ### Low Usage and Technical Shortcomings Beyond data inaccuracies, **ICESpy** exhibits remarkably low usage. Activity logs reviewed by WIRED for a week in June and July showed only 84 page views and a mere two face-match attempts. Both attempts yielded results so poor that **McDonald** deemed them impossible matches for anyone in his 2018 dataset. “Like, I’m sure people were playing with it at some point?? But it is not an active threat to ANYBODY lmao,” **McDonald** commented via text message, underscoring the project's minimal impact. ### The 'ICE List' and Public Data Federal attorneys also implicated another site, **ICE List**, in aiding doxing efforts. **ICE List** positions itself as an accountability initiative, tracking individuals associated with **ICE** and other deportation agencies, along with vehicles and incidents during enforcement actions. Individual agent pages on **ICE List** typically feature names, job titles, associated field offices, and any incidents, corroborated by links to public sources. A previous analysis by WIRED in January found that **ICE List** also primarily drew its information from self-described **ICE** employees on **LinkedIn**. While some agent pages include headshots, the site does not offer a public-facing mechanism for computational photo analysis.