![]() ![]() For asylum seekers who have been impacted by the “Remain in Mexico” protocol, which requires them to stay in Mexico and await an immigration hearing prior to entering the United States, the CBP One app is the only option for advancing their case. NGOs send biometric information to CBP via the app, which then uses facial recognition to determine if the asylum seeker is permitted entry into the United States. In June, CBP began deploying a surveillance app that uses both geolocation data and facial recognition to collect, track, and store data on asylum seekers prior to their arrival in the United States. The normalization of technology as a solution to migration creates a fertile environment for surveillance overreach. And it is crucial to recognize that investment in these technologies drain resources that could be better spent addressing the much-needed humanitarian response to migration. ![]() ground sensor technology has its shortcomings as well, mistakenly sounding alarms when rocks fall or a cow roams past. Facial recognition is known to wrongly identify people of color, women, and persons with disabilities, which would make already marginalized groups even more vulnerable to being mistakenly deemed security threats. government agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has acknowledged. Simply put, facial recognition is a faulty technology that frequently fails to deliver on its intended purpose, a fact that a U.S. The American immigration system will not be made more humane by relegating its management to technology, nor will efficiency come from flawed technologies that pose major privacy and human rights risks. These whopping investments in a more robust border surveillance network run entirely counter to Biden’s stated desire of creating a humane and effective immigration system. Other funds go toward unmanned aircraft and border technologies which collect license plate information and capture photographs of vehicle interiors. ![]() The bill further allocates $21 million toward a planned database for storage of iris scans, facial images, fingerprints, and other biometric data of immigrants. Though in name ATD sounds like a paradigm shift from previous administrations, ATD perniciously grants ICE more supervisory control over immigrants, subjects individuals to unscheduled visits, confines them to ankle monitors, and uses facial recognition and voice check-in systems. On July 13, the House Appropriations Committee advanced a $475 million Department of Homeland Security funding bill to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s “Alternatives to Detention” (ATD) program, going beyond the funding level that the Biden administration itself had sought. Although the smart wall that the Biden administration is pushing has bipartisan support and is touted as a " smart, just, and merciful" alternative to " primitive and ineffective" traditional walls, this approach only further propels American immigration policy into technological experimentation and makes asylum seekers and migrants the subjects of that experimentation. But the border wall itself cannot be overlooked as part of the administration’s plan to address the “ moral failings” of their predecessors. Indeed, Biden acted swiftly upon entering office by signing three executive orders with the goal of undoing former President Trump’s highly scrutinized “zero tolerance” policy, which led to immediate detention and separation of families. On the heels of the Trump era, in which American immigration policy was synonymous with “build the wall,” President Biden has the opportunity to refocus the conversation and approach immigration with the humanity and nuance it demands. Our border is already a " smart wall.” Now, the Biden administration would like to make it “smarter.” And Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) is expanding the use of facial recognition technology-currently in use at airports-to land crossings. Cameras and motion-detecting lights line the wall as remote video surveillance towers capture movement miles away in the desert. Underground sensors detect movement and trigger notifications to border patrol. In reality, the wall running along the southern United States border is a metal menace equipped with experimental technologies most of us have a hard time envisioning. For most Americans, hearing about “The Wall” may conjure up imagery of a towering and impenetrable cement barrier or an imposing chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. ![]()
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