US Department Of Homeland Security Plans To Use Facial Recognition To Identify Migrant Children ‘Down To The Infant’

This revelation, first reported by MIT Technology Review, cited John Boyd, assistant director of the department’s Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM), who said at a conference in June: “If we pick up someone from Panama at the southern border at age four, say, and then pick them up at age six, are we going to recognize them?”

MIT quoted statistics from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), which documents that 339,234 children arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022. Roughly 150,000 were unaccompanied. ‘If the face prints of even one percent of those children had been enrolled in OBIM’s craniofacial structural progression program, the resulting data set would dwarf nearly all existing data sets of real children’s faces used for aging research,’ MIT wrote.

MIT further noted:

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Prior to publication of this story Boyd told MIT Technology Review that to the best of his knowledge, the agency has not yet started collecting data under the program, but he adds that as “the senior executive,” he would “have to get with [his] staff to see.” He could only confirm that his office is “funding” it. Despite repeated requests, Boyd did not provide any additional information. After publication, DHS denied that it had plans to collect facial images from minors under 14. 

Boyd described recent “rulemaking” at “some DHS components,” or sub-offices, that have removed age restrictions on the collection of biometric data. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the US Transportation Security Administration, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment before publication. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not respond to multiple requests for comment. OBIM referred MIT Technology Review back to DHS’s main press office. 

DHS did not comment on the program prior to publication, but sent an emailed statement afterwards: “The Department of Homeland Security uses various forms of technology to execute its mission, including some biometric capabilities. DHS ensures all technologies, regardless of type, are operated under the established authorities and within the scope of the law. We are committed to protecting the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of all individuals who may be subject to the technology we use to keep the nation safe and secure.”

The agency later noted “DHS does not collect facial images from minors under 14, and has no current plans to do so for either operational or research purposes,” walking back Boyd’s statements. 

Boyd spoke publicly about the plan in June at the Federal Identity Forum and Exposition, an annual identity management conference for federal employees and contractors. But close observers of DHS that we spoke with—including a former official, representatives of two influential lawmakers who have spoken out about the federal government’s use of surveillance technologies, and immigrants’ rights organizations that closely track policies affecting migrants—were unaware of any new policies allowing biometric data collection of children under 14. 

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In response to this news, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) says “the use of facial recognition technology to track migrant children is another stride toward a surveillance state.”

Ashley Gorski, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), also told MIT that the DHS “should have to meet an extremely high bar to show that these kids and their legal guardians have meaningfully consented to serve as test subjects,” given the “significant intimidation factor.”

Biometric Update added: ‘As illegal border crossings have crystallized into a sharp, divisive political issue, border agencies have ramped up biometric data collection programs, exploring new contactless methods and releasing the CBP One, which allows asylum seekers to submit face biometrics in advance of crossing. The DHS now collects biometrics and DNA from migrants as soon as they cross the border, resulting in the addition of more than a million DNA profiles into law enforcement databases since collection began in January 2020.’

DHS has mostly limited its biometric assemblage to those aged 14 to 79.

Read the whole story here.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Not “toward” a “surveillance state,” Mr. Merkley: further strengthening the surveillance state.

The world was falling apart before 2001, but after 9/11 the whole world changed that day forward, and everything has cascaded ever since; especially the surveillance state and the loss of all personal privacy. The Constitution and Bill of Rights mean absolutely nothing anymore, and have not for some time; but the 4th Amendment has probably been molested the most these last two decades especially.

Proverbs 28:2 For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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