The 30-day comment period on U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s latest proposed rulemaking for its biometric entry-exit program closed Monday, and several commenters called on the agency to halt the expansion of the program beyond the pilot stages.
Though the proposal didn’t attract nearly as many comments as a controversial U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services biometrics proposal garnered in October, those opposed raised far-reaching concerns about the legitimacy of the project. Even some commenters who supported the direction of the rule asked for further clarifications around privacy concerns and opt-out procedures.
Advocacy groups such as Amnesty International, the Immigrant Defense Project and the American Immigration Council urged CBP to withdraw the proposal. The non-partisan Project on Government Oversight also urged a withdrawal, and the City of Portland in a letter signed by Mayor Ted Wheeler said it “strongly opposes the use of face recognition technology for immigration purposes.”
“We believe this system poses serious risks to civil rights and civil liberties, and that it does so unnecessarily, given the less-invasive alternatives that have thus far gone largely unexamined by CBP, notably a one-to-one face verification system,” POGO’s comment letter reads. “Unless and until CBP fully considers such options, we believe the use of biometric entry-exit systems should be halted rather than expanded.”
Background on the Rule
The rule proposed last month would move CBP’s biometric entry-exit system out of the pilot phase and allow the Homeland Security Department to expand the program, which uses a facial recognition system it calls the Traveler Verification Service, or TVS, to all airports, seaports and land ports.
Other changes that woul ..
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