U.S. Requires Migrants Without Passports to Undergo Facial Recognition to Board Flights

Source: Latimes

The U.S. government has begun requiring migrants without passports to undergo facial recognition technology to board domestic flights, under a change that created confusion this week among immigrants and activist groups in Texas.

It is unclear when the change took effect, but several migrants with flights departing from southern Texas on Tuesday reported to activist groups that they thought they were being turned away. Among the migrants were individuals who used the government’s online appointment system to process their immigration cases. Migrant advocates were also concerned about migrants who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and were processed by Border Patrol agents and released while their immigration cases are pending.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) told The Associated Press on Thursday that migrants without proper photo identification who want to board flights must undergo facial recognition technology to verify their identity against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records.

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“If TSA cannot match their identity to DHS records, they will also be unable to access secure airport areas and will be denied boarding,” the agency said.

Agency officials did not specify when TSA made the change, only saying it was recent and not in response to a specific security threat.

It is currently unknown how many migrants might be affected. Some have foreign passports.

Migrants and overwhelmed communities along the U.S.-Mexico border increasingly rely on airlines to transport people to other cities where they have friends and family, and where Border Patrol often instructs them to go to complete their immigration procedures.

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