US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), overseen by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has announced that it will no longer use facial recognition technology on US travelers.
Following consultation with Congress and privacy experts, CBP has decided not to pursue a regulation change that will enable it to use facial recognition software to identify all travelers to and from the country, including US citizens.
The DHS recently proposed changes to existing regulations to provide that all travelers, including US citizens, may be required to be photographed upon entry and/or departure" from the country, such as at airports.
Michael Hardin, director of exit/entry policy and planning at the DHS, claimed that the rule is in its "final stages of clearance" but will not be implemented until after a period of public comment following its publication.
In 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to steamroll the implementation of airport biometrics for all domestic and international travelers.
According to the DHS, the proposed rule change will help detect criminals and prevent travel-document fraud. However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pointed out that the filing contradicts the CBP's previous statement that US citizens will not be included in such surveillance.
ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley said: "Travelers, including U.S. citizens, should not have to submit to invasive biometric scans simply as a condition of exercising their constitutional right to travel."
"The government's insistence on hurtling forward with a large-scale deployment of this powerful surveillance technology raises profound privacy concerns," Stanley added.
Since the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, the implementation of biometric entry-exit has been recommended but not widely enforced.
In the 9/11 Commission Report, the official report into the 2001 terror attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., it was cited that a biometric entry-exit screening system for foreign nationals was integral to US national security.
