Giannoulias accuses Texas of illegally accessing Mount Prospect license plate data in abortion case
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias accused Texas law enforcement of illegally accessing automated license plate reader data in Mount Prospect while searching for a woman who had an abortion.
Giannoulias said in May, Texas authorities searched more than 83,000 automatic license plate reader cameras nationwide to find a woman they said had given herself an abortion. He said the search included cameras in states where abortion is legal, including Illinois, and specifically in suburban Mount Prospect.
Illinois passed a law in 2023 that prohibits automatic license plate reader data from being shared with any state for the purpose of tracking, investigating or penalizing a person seeking abortion health care or criminalizing a person's immigration status.
In response to the data breach, Giannoulias said he has told Flock Safety, which operates the cameras, to shut off access for out-of-state authorities immediately, and contacted the Illinois Attorney General's Office to investigate the matter.
Giannoulias also accused Mount Prospect officials of other violations of the 2023 license plate reader law, saying that between January 14 and April 30 there were 262 searches for immigration-related matters in Mount Prospect alone.
Giannoulias said he is now establishing an audit system with additional safeguards to prevent law enforcement accessing this data in violation of Illinois law in the future.
