Despite Scanning Millions of Faces, Feds Caught Zero Imposters at Airports Last Year

U.S. Customs and Border Protection scanned more than 23 million people in public places with facial recognition technology in 2020

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer instructs an international traveler to look into a camera as he uses facial recognition technology to screen a traveler entering the United States at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

U.S. Customs and Border Protection scanned more than 23 million people with facial recognition technology at airports, seaports, and pedestrian crossings in 2020, the agency recently revealed in its annual report on trade and travel.

The agency scanned four million more people than in 2019. The report indicates that the system caught no imposters traveling through airports last year and fewer than 100 new pedestrian imposters.

Since the agency started public tracking statistics in 2018, it has only caught seven imposters trying to enter the United States through airports, and 285 attempting to do so over land crossings. These facial recognition scans are the result of CBP partnerships with more than 30 points of entry to the U.S.

The rollout of facial recognition at U.S. borders has its roots in a 1996 congressional mandate that the attorney general develop a system to track the entry and exit of foreign citizens to the U.S. In 2001, the PATRIOT Act expanded this entry/exit system, adding a requirement that this tracking be done by biometrics, meaning through fingerprint, iris, or facial recognition. The CBP subsequently took over these efforts and, in 2013, put a plan in motion to use facial recognition.

CBP started releasing data on its facial recognition rollout in 2019. It revealed that in 2018, 8.3 million people were scanned at borders. However, the program’s implementation has been met with skepticism from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). In late 2020, the oversight organization lambasted CBP over lackluster accuracy audits, poor signage notifying the public the technology is being used, and little information offered to the public on how its systems worked.

GAO said that even though commercial airline partners had used facial recognition since 2017 and cruise lines had used the technology since 2018, CBP didn’t audit the technology’s efficacy until March 2020. Further audits are now on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic…