A Letter to the General Assembly: Oppose Mass Surveillance Expansion:

Sent by email


April 1, 2025 

The Honorable Scott A. Surovell, Senate Majority Leader 

The Honorable Ryan T. McDougle, Senate Minority Leader 

The Honorable Don L. Scott Jr., Speaker of the House 

The Honorable Todd. C. Gilbert, House Minority Leader

cc: Members of the Virginia General Assembly

Dear Senate and House Leadership and Members of the General Assembly,

During the 2025 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Session you voted down the expansion of mass surveillance to state highways using automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), sending HB 2724 to the governor with only some minimal regulations for ALPRs already installed. Although the regulations you agreed on were not nearly restrictive enough, they were an improvement over existing law and a stepping stone toward future safeguards. On April 2, 2025, the governor wants you to vote to expand mass surveillance for use by the Virginia State Police and to remove meaningful protections you agreed to. 

The governor’s recommendations to HB 2724 come just weeks after Executive Order 47 instructs “collaboration with the federal government to enforce immigration law in the Commonwealth of Virginia using all available methods” and further deputizes Virginia State Police to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. In the last two months, we have witnessed unprecedented monitoring of the movements of the residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In Arlington, ICE has targeted and raided immigrant communities and detained individuals with no criminal record. In York County, ICE arrested a Grafton High School graduate and valedictorian with permanent residency for attending a protest opposing excessive punishments handed out to student protesters. Our Virginia communities are under attack. Who is next on the list and by what means? 

ALPRs are designed to track the movements of every person and collect and retain data on a vast number of vehicles, regardless of whether the driver or any occupants are engaged in criminal activity. ALPRs pose threats to liberty, privacy, and our safety. In February, over 35 Virginia organizations–from across the political spectrum– wrote in a letter to House leadership and members of the Senate that “the right to be free from arbitrary or unlawful interference with one’s private affairs is a core principle not just in our Constitution, but to a modern understanding of human rights.” The letter also detailed deep concern “over the proposed expansion of ALPRs and the unavoidable—and potentially ungovernable— access HB 2724 provides to private parties, other states, and the federal government to an immense amount of highly sensitive data, which has the clear potential for misuse.“ In March, the Guardian uncovered that the federal government has been able to access ALPR data and abuse it for many years despite policies designed to prevent it.

Massively expanding the surveillance state, especially at a time of considerable political unrest and uncertainty, would be imprudent and reckless. The governor’s recommendations:

  • Expand surveillance to the nearly 60,000 miles of state roads and highways.

  • Provide no meaningful restrictions on the ability of other states, private parties, and the federal government to access Virginia ALPR data through subpoenas or search warrants. 

  • Increase the amount of information being collected which can be accessed by other states, private parties, or the federal government.

  • Collect and store data on the movements of every vehicle’s occupants for 30 days, well beyond when it would be needed for a criminal investigation.

  • Allow law enforcement to use photos from ALPRs for any “criminal investigation where there is a reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed”—an expansive definition that would even include crimes like jaywalking and littering. 

  • Does not restrict the use of AI to generate algorithms to surveil certain groups of people.

  • Fail to provide a uniform statewide policy for how the ALPRs and the data they produce will be used by law enforcement agencies in the Commonwealth.

Law enforcement cannot employ mass surveillance tools on state highways without explicit permission from General Assembly members. During the 2023 legislative session, you rejected mass surveillance in Virginia. You rejected it again in 2024, and for a third time in 2025. We call on you to strongly oppose the governor’s recommendations to expand the surveillance state. Any regulations that remain in the bill following the governor’s changes are woefully inadequate to justify expanding surveillance to nearly 60,000 miles of state highways. Rejecting these amendments sends a clear message that you stand with the people of Virginia—and thus always to tyrants.

With grave concern,

Justice Forward Virginia

Kelly Haywood