US CPB covertly uses facial recognition to process asylum seekers

Occurred: June 2021

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The Los Angeles Times has revealed that the US government is covertly using facial recognition for immigration. According to the Times, the US government's Customs and Border Protection (CPB) is using CPB One, a mobile app incorporating facial recognition and a range of other surveillance and storage tools to process asylum seekers at the US/Mexico border. 

Civil and human rights experts are concerned about the privacy and surveillance implications of the system. The CPB also stands accused of poor transparency by failing to mention it would be using the app to process asylum seekers and that facial recognition is involved.

Operator: Customs and Border Protection (CPB)
Developer: Customs and Border Protection (CPB)
Country: USA
Sector: Govt - immigration
Purpose: Manage migration
Technology: Facial recognition
Issue: Privacy; Surveillance
Transparency: Governance; Privacy

Page info
Type: Incident
Published: January 2022
Last updated: November 2023