The United States will broaden its use of facial recognition technology to track non-citizens entering and leaving the country, as part of efforts to curb visa overstays and passport fraud, according to a government regulation published on Friday.
The new rule empowers U.S. border authorities to require non-citizens to be photographed at airports, seaports, land crossings, and other points of entry or departure expanding on an earlier pilot programme.
Set to take effect on 26 December, the regulation also authorises the collection of additional biometrics such as fingerprints or DNA samples, and extends facial recognition use to children under 14 and elderly travellers over 79, who were previously exempt.
The tighter measures align with U.S. President Donald Trump’s broader agenda to clamp down on illegal immigration. While the administration has intensified efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, it has also prioritised reducing the number of individuals who overstay their visas.
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The growing adoption of facial recognition in U.S. airports has drawn criticism from privacy and civil rights advocates. A 2024 report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that the technology was more prone to misidentifying Black people and other minority groups.
According to the Congressional Research Service, about 42% of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as of 2023 had overstayed their visas.
Although Congress mandated the creation of an automated entry-exit tracking system in 1996, it has never been fully operational. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) currently employs facial recognition for all commercial air entries but uses it for exits only at select locations.
CBP estimates that a comprehensive biometric entry-exit system could be deployed at all commercial airports and seaports within the next three to five years.
