CBP Verifies More Than 1 Billion Travelers With Facial Biometrics

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has verified the identities of more than 1 billion travelers through facial biometrics, expanding automated identity checks across the country’s international entry and exit points.

The system operates at entry in every U.S. airport handling international arrivals and at exit in 66 airports. It also operates at 42 seaports, pedestrian border crossings along the northern and southwest borders, and some vehicle lanes.

Since 2018, the program has identified more than 600,000 travelers who overstayed their authorized periods and more than 2,300 impostors. CBP received $673 million under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to expand biometric screening across all U.S. ports of entry and has established data-sharing agreements with cruise lines.

Photographs of U.S. citizens are discarded within 12 hours of identity verification. U.S. citizens may opt out by notifying a CBP officer or airline representative and completing a manual passport inspection. Citizens may also voluntarily participate in the facial biometrics process at entry and exit.

The Traveler Verification Service automates identity checks through facial-biometrics matching. The Department of Homeland Security’s Automated Biometric Identification System holds more than 320 million unique identities and processes about 400,000 biometric transactions daily.

CBP also operates the Automated Targeting System, which compares traveler, conveyance and cargo information with law enforcement and intelligence data. U.S. law requires air carriers to provide certain passenger reservation details to the Department of Homeland Security and CBP before departure.