U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Ban the use of AI for mass surveillance

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

U.S. border and customs agency

Facial biometrics is the bedrock of what we're trying to do to make sure that we know who the people are that are coming into this country, and that all the vetting and security, the apparatus that we have that goes beyond it, is really compounded on knowing who those people are.

AI Verified source (2026)

4d ago

Policy proposals and claims

Ban the use of AI for mass surveillance

Verification History

AI Verified Verified. This quote was sourced via web search from the Nextgov/FCW article (Jan 22, 2026, "Biometrics are now a 'bedrock' of traveler identification, CBP official says"). WebFetch returned HTTP 403, but the web search confirmed the verbatim quote — "Facial biometrics is the bedrock of what we're trying to do to make sure that we know who the people are that are coming into this country..." — spoken by Matt Davies, Executive Director of Admissibility and Passenger Programs in CBP's Office of Field Operations, articulating CBP's official position. Correctly attributed to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Davies speaking officially for the agency). CBP strongly supports biometric/facial-recognition surveillance, so the "against" vote on "Ban the use of AI for mass surveillance" is correct. Year 2026, current and relevant. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-8 · 4d ago

replying to U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Comment by U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Verification History