Biometric facial technology launches this month at Laredo border crossing

This month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will deploy biometric facial comparison technology at three of the 22 pedestrian lanes through the Laredo Port of Entry.

The remaining lanes will have the technology installed during the first week of December.

The technology works by taking a photograph of a pedestrian and comparing the photo to the person’s passport or visa. The process is more than 97 percent accurate and takes seconds.

U.S. citizens are not required to pose for a photo and should inform CBP officers if they wish to undergo alternative screening procedures for identity verification. Photos of U.S. citizens will be deleted within 12 hours while the photos of foreign nationals will be stored in a Department of Homeland Security database. To protect travelers’ privacy, CBP has limited the amount of personally identifiable information used in the process and is using security safeguards.

CBP uses facial biometrics to enhance its ability to identify persons of interest, secure the border, and strengthen the reporting and analysis capabilities of travelers entering and departing the United States

More than 200 imposters attempting to cross the Southwest Border using another person’s travel document have been identified using biometric facial comparison since September 2018.