The suspicions of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer regarding a Liberian man’s effort to enter the country resulted in exposing a fraudulent passport admission.
Officials said the 25-year-old man arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport on a flight from Brussels, Belgium, and processed his admission on an Automated Passport Control self-help kiosk.
He then presented his kiosk receipt, passport, and Pennsylvania driver’s license to a CBP officer, who then suspected the man to be an impostor.
A facial comparison scan supported the officer’s suspicion and the officer referred the man to a comprehensive secondary examination, during which time the man admitted his true identity and that the passport was not his.
“This case should serve as a reminder to all would-be impostors that exceptionally trained Customs and Border Protection officers and enhanced facial comparison technology await them at Washington Dulles International Airport and that this combination significantly restricts their ability to deliberately circumvent our nation’s immigration laws,” Daniel Mattina, CBP area port director for the Area Port of Washington Dulles, said. “There are legal ways to travel or immigrate to the United States and using another person’s travel documents isn’t one of those lawful ways.”
CBP officials said as an impostor, the agency has ordered the Liberian man removed, as he faces a five-year ban from returning to America.