U.S. to photograph Canadians at land borders, airports

The United States is moving forward with a plan to photograph Canadians as they enter and leave the country, regardless of their mode of travel.

For nearly ten years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has relied on facial biometric technology to verify the identities of international travellers arriving at American airports.

The system works by capturing a photograph of each traveller and comparing it with the image on their travel documents to confirm a match.

But CBP is now broadening the initiative to include the collection of photos from departing passengers at all international airports in the U.S., CBC News reports

The agency also intends to expand the program to capture images of travellers entering and leaving the country through seaports and land border vehicle lanes.

CBP told CBC that it anticipates having facial biometric technology fully operational at land border crossings sometime next year.

The system is expected to be rolled out across seaports and airports within the next three to five years.

In the meantime, CBP is already preparing for the expansion.

On Friday (Oct. 24), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) introduced a new rule requiring all non-U.S. citizens — including Canadians — to participate in its facial biometrics program.

The regulation will take effect on December 26, despite the fact that complete implementation of the program may still take several years.

Facial recognition technology is already being used at numerous U.S. airports for international departures.

Under the new rule, images of foreign travellers will be stored in a U.S. Department of Homeland Security database for as long as 75 years.

Monitoring travellers as they leave also enables CBP to identify individuals who have overstayed their permitted time in the country, the new DHS rule states.

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