DALLAS (AP) -- Federal officials are considering requiring
that all travelers -- including American citizens -- be photographed as they
enter or leave the country as part of an identification system using
facial-recognition technology.
The Department of Homeland Security says it expects to
publish a proposed rule next July. Officials did not respond to requests for
more details.
Critics are already raising objections.
Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said Tuesday he will introduce
legislation to block the plan and prohibit American citizens from being forced
to provide facial-recognition information. He said a recent data breach at
Customs and Border Protection shows that Homeland Security can't be trusted
with the information.
Facial recognition is being tested by several airlines at a
handful of U.S. airports. American citizens are allowed to opt out of being
photographed, although a 2017 audit by a federal watchdog agency found that few
U.S. travelers exercised that right -- barely more than one per flight.
Federal law requires Homeland Security to put into place a
system to use biometrics to confirm the identity of international travelers.
Government officials have made no secret of their desire to expand the use of
biometrics, which they say could identify potential terrorists.
Jay Stanley, a policy analyst for the American Civil
Liberties Union, said the government has told the public and Congress repeatedly
that American citizens would be exempt from mandatory biometric screening.
"This new notice suggests that the government is reneging on
what was already an insufficient promise," Stanley said in a statement. "Travelers,
including U.S. citizens, should not have to submit to invasive biometric scans
simply as a condition of exercising their constitutional right to travel."