House Democrats press CBP over facial recognition program

Over 20 House Democrats in a letter on Friday pressed the Department of Homeland Security over Border Patrol’s use of facial recognition technology on U.S. citizens in airports, arguing the rapidly expanding program has not been enabled by any congressional mandate.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which has been rolling out the face-scanning program in a growing number of airports across the U.S., has argued that it is operating under a congressional mandate and executive order from the president. But those orders ask CBP to roll out a biometrics program for “foreign nationals,” not U.S. citizens, the lawmakers say.

“We write to express concerns about reports that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using facial recognition technology to scan American citizens under the Biometric Exit Program,” the group of progressive lawmakers, who sit on multiple committees, wrote, referring to CBP’s facial recognition tech program.

“This is an unprecedented and unauthorized expansion of the agency’s authority,” they wrote. “As such, we urge the agency to allow for public input and establish privacy safeguards.”

A CBP spokeswoman confirmed to The Hill that it has received the letter.

The group of Democrats behind the letter are led by Reps. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.). The group includes progressives such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in recent weeks have dramatically intensified their scrutiny of facial recognition technology, particularly by CBP and the FBI, saying the technology poses privacy and civil rights issues that have not been resolved. At a pair of House Oversight and Reform Committee hearings over the past month, Republicans and Democrats raised concerns that the government has implemented programs around facial recognition tech without any congressional regulation or oversight.