The 2023 deployment of Flock Safety’s AI-powered surveillance cameras in Ithaca and Tompkins County, NY, has ignited fierce community opposition. Activists argue the system, which captures more than just license plates, directly undermines the area’s sanctuary city policies by creating a data trail vulnerable to federal immigration enforcement. Despite Flock’s claims of data security, documented workarounds show local police can share data with agencies like ICE, bypassing official channels. While some local officials acknowledge these civil liberties risks, they remain hesitant to remove what they see as a valuable crime-fighting tool. Many support the cameras’ continued use pending evidence of local misuse, though some propose a memorandum of understanding to standardize usage and controls. The debate pits the technology’s purported public safety benefits against the tangible threat it poses to immigrant communities and due process in an era of aggressive federal enforcement.