Flying into the US? You will be photographed and entered into a facial recognition database

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced a sweeping expansion of its biometric tracking regime, declaring in a recent notification in the Federal Register that virtually every non-US citizen entering or departing the United States will be photographed and entered into a facial-recognition database. Under the final rule, which covers airports, seaports and land crossings, the agency states that it will “implement an integrated biometric entry-exit system that compares biometric data of aliens (ie: foreign nationals) collected upon arrival with biometric data collected upon departure”. This exercise will be carried out in order to address national-security risks, fraudulent travel documents, visa overstays and the presence of foreign nationals without lawful admission or p