DHS Offers “Disturbing New Excuses” to Seize Kids’ Biometric Data, Expert Says
Freeman writes:
Civil and digital rights experts are horrified by a proposed rule change that would allow the Department of Homeland Security to collect a wide range of sensitive biometric data on all immigrants, without age restrictions, and store that data throughout each person's "lifecycle" in the immigration system.
If adopted, the rule change would allow DHS agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to broadly collect facial imagery, finger and palm prints, iris scans, and voice prints. They may also request DNA, which DHS claimed "would only be collected in limited circumstances," like to verify family relations.
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Alarming critics, the update would allow DHS for the first time to collect biometric data of children under 14, which DHS claimed would help reduce human trafficking and other harms by making it easier to identify kids crossing the border unaccompanied or with a stranger.Jennifer Lynch, general counsel for a digital rights nonprofit called the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Ars that EFF joined Democratic senators in opposing a prior attempt by DHS to expand biometric data collection in 2020.
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By maintaining a database, the US also risks chilling speech, as immigrants weigh risks of social media comments-which DHS already monitors-possibly triggering removals or arrests."People will be less likely to speak out on any issue for fear of being tracked and facing severe reprisals, like detention and deportation, that we've already seen from this administration," Lynch told Ars.
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EFF previously noted that DHS's biometric database was already the second largest in the world. By expanding it, DHS estimated that the agency would collect "about 1.12 million more biometrics submissions" annually, increasing the current baseline to about 3.19 million.
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