Complaint alleges companies are selling Marylanders’ location and personal data to immigration enforcement agencies, circumventing new state protections
The Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today announced that it has joined a coalition of privacy, consumer protection and civil rights organizations in filing a sweeping consumer complaint urging Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown to investigate alleged violations of the state’s newly strengthened privacy laws.
The 29-page filing asks the attorney general to investigate and, where warranted, initiate enforcement actions against multiple data brokers and technology companies suspected of violating the Maryland Data Privacy Act, which took effect July 1, 2026.
The complaint is led by We Are CASA, Maryland’s largest working-class Black, Latino/a/e, Afro-descendant, Indigenous and immigrant advocacy organization, represented by Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law & Policy Clinic.
Signatories include the Center for Democracy & Technology, Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, Consumer Federation of America, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Demand Progress Education Fund, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future and Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.
READ THE COMPLAINT: Coalition Consumer Complaint
The complaint describes what the coalition alleges are widespread and ongoing violations of Marylanders’ privacy rights by companies including PenLink, Motorola Solutions, Thomson Reuters, LexisNexis, Insight LPR, Flock Safety and ThunderCat Technology.
Several of the named companies reportedly hold state or federal contracts, including contracts involving the provision of data or data-analysis services to immigration enforcement authorities.
The complaint alleges that these companies sell or otherwise provide geolocation data, personal information and motor vehicle records to law enforcement and federal immigration agencies in ways that circumvent safeguards such as judicial warrants.
“Privacy is not an abstract concern when personal data can be used to locate a family, monitor a house of worship, track a vehicle or facilitate an immigration enforcement action,” said CAIR’s Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry. “Immigrant and mixed-status families should not have to live in fear that the digital trails created through ordinary daily life are being quietly packaged and sold to government agencies without meaningful judicial oversight.
“Maryland enacted strong privacy protections precisely to prevent companies from turning sensitive personal information into a backdoor around our constitutional rights. We urge Attorney General Brown to investigate these serious allegations and hold any company found to have violated Maryland law fully accountable.”
The Maryland Data Privacy Act, enacted as Chapter 874 of the 2026 Laws of Maryland, strengthened several existing state privacy protections, including provisions of the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act. It became effective July 1.
Among its protections, the law restricts the sale of personal data to government entities engaged in or supporting civil immigration enforcement under certain circumstances. It also strengthens safeguards governing access to public records and data systems for immigration enforcement purposes.
The law specifically recognizes precise geolocation information, including vehicle location data, as sensitive data. It prohibits the sale of sensitive data and generally restricts its collection, processing or sharing unless necessary to provide a service requested by the individual or authorized under another legal exception.
The coalition’s request is consistent with Attorney General Brown’s previously stated concerns about government agencies obtaining commercially available personal information without proper oversight.
In March, Brown joined 16 other state attorneys general in urging Congress to close the “data broker loophole” that allows federal agencies to purchase information they would otherwise need legal process to obtain.
Marylanders’ digital footprints can reveal where they live, work, worship, drive, seek healthcare and access essential services. When that information is sold or transferred to immigration enforcement agencies without adequate safeguards, the result can be a profound chilling effect across entire communities.
Families may become afraid to update an address, apply for benefits, attend English-language classes, visit healthcare providers or participate in religious and civic life. Protecting communities from precisely these harms is at the heart of the right to privacy.
The coalition is urging Attorney General Brown to investigate the companies identified in the complaint and send an unmistakable message that Maryland’s privacy protections will be meaningfully enforced.
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice and empower American Muslims.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry, [email protected], 410-971-6062;
CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, [email protected], 202-744-7726;
CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, [email protected], 202-770-6280