Is Border Patrol using license plate cameras to monitor drivers in Bay Area? Here's what we know

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The U.S Border Patrol has been monitoring drivers nationwide with license plate reading cameras as part of a secretive program that has led to arrests and detentions, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.

In the Bay Area, hundreds of license plate reader cameras scan and store this information in real-time. The concern is who has access to this data and whether any laws are being violated.

The U.S. Border Patrol has extended its surveillance from the nation's boundaries deep into American cities.

RELATED: Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns

"This is massive government overreach that puts every American under warrantless mass surveillance," said Josh Richman, communications director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

An Associated Press investigation revealed details of how the U.S. Border Patrol surveillance program works, pointing to the use of license plate readers to identify and detain drivers with "suspicious" travel patterns.

"Automated license plate readers capture images of every car that passes, regardless of whether the driver is suspected of any crime. And that means the Border Patrol is seizing the ability to track any driver in America," said Richman.

Many Bay Area cities, such as San Francisco, Berkeley, and Piedmont, have hundreds of cameras similar to the ones listed in the AP investigation. Just this week, Oakland councilmembers voted against expanding their existing camera system, citing these exact privacy concerns.

"I'm really struggling with, potentially maybe, a correlation between cameras and a very real possibility of our data falling into the hands of bad actors that have a track record of working with the agencies that are, in contradiction with Oakland's values. We have a sanctuary city," said Oakland Councilmember Carroll Fife.

RELATED: Surveillance, privacy concerns raised in debate over Flock cameras in Oakland

On Tuesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against the city of San Jose over how it stores data from its 500 license plate readers.

"The city of San Jose, which retains its automated license plate reader data for a year, which is a very long period. We're asking the court to order that police cannot search for those records without first obtaining a warrant from a judge," said Richman.

"We have a California law here on the books that prohibits the sharing of license plate reader information collected in California with out-of-state entities. But it's incredibly important that the law needs to be followed," said Nicole Ozer, Executive Director for the Center for Constitutional Democracy at UC Law San Francisco.

Professor Ozer is urging the public to ask their city where the data collected is stored and who has access to it.

"The stakes are higher than ever to ensure that any information that's collected in California neighborhoods on California streets, from license plate readers, from video cameras, from any other type of surveillance technology, can't actually be weaponized against the very communities that we're all trying to protect," said Professor Ozer.

The AP investigation did not identify any Bay Area cities as part of this practice.

We also checked with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

"We are not aware of any Bay Area cities that are consciously sharing this information with federal authorities. That doesn't mean it's not happening," said Richman.