In the last decade, nation states have increased their reliance on technology to enforce borders and control access to essential services. Electronic databases, various apps, and facial and iris recognition software is increasingly used not only to control entry, but also to access food and healthcare services. While arguments are made about increasing efficiency, streamlining processes, and eliminating waste, these technologies have greatly increased the powers of nation states and given them tremendous control over the lives of migrants who lack political, financial, and social agency. Our eighth seminar analyzed the ethics of technologies deployed at the borders and their impact on those whose lives depend on them. We also discussed the role of developers, researchers, and engineers at universities, and what their role ought to be in ensuring ethical deployment of their technologies.
The first presentation, “Migration Policies and the Use of Emerging Technologies,” by Rafaela Schweiger (Yale University | Robert Bosch Stiftung) laid the foundation for the rest of the day’s discussion by offering a bird’s-eye level view of emerging technologies that are already being deployed in migration contexts around the world and the various functions those technologies serve. Schweiger then honed in on a set of ethically controversial technologies — the potential for AI-assisted asylum decisions, and the volume of biometric data collected from people on the move — analyzing both the obvious ethical concerns raised by those technologies, as well as some promising potential means of addressing those concerns. The second talk was given by Allison McDonald (Boston University), and was titled “American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century.” In it, McDonald highlighted the use of wide data collection practices by US Customs and Border Patrol and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to surveil potentially unauthorized migrant populations for deportation purposes, often in collaboration with state motor vehicle administrators and utility companies. The final talk, “Ethics, Public Health, and Technologies for Migrant Populations” by Ariadne Nichol (Stanford University) addressed long-standing barriers to access to public health resources amongst refugee populations. Categorizing these, broadly speaking, into gaps in access and acceptance, Nichols then analyzed how health-care AI developers might address those gaps through increased awareness of those issues and clearer communication with target populations.