Homeland Security’s controversial facial recognition system to be tested at Texas border this summer

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is trialing a new facial recognition technology at US borders aimed at keeping track of people as the enter and exit the country.

Called the Vehicle Face System, the project is being spearheaded by Customs and Border Protection at the Anzalduas Border Crossing, located at the southern tip of Texas, in August, according to the Verge. 

Sophisticated cameras will take photos of people arriving and departing the US and match them with government documents like visas and passports. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is trialing a new facial recognition technology at US borders aimed at keeping track of people as the enter and exit the country

The cameras are expected to remain in operation at the crossing for a full year. 

A customs spokesperson told the Verge that the purpose of the project will be to ‘evaluate capturing facial biometrics of travelers entering and departing the US and compare those images to photos on file in government holdings’.   

In the past, facial recognition technology struggled to correctly identify individuals behind a windshield due to glares and other obstructions. 

But the cameras at the crossing use technology that works in multiple focal lengths, which could allow the system to discern between people and reflections. 

They’re also fitted with ambient light sensors, range finders and remote speedometers.   

‘Specific technologies to be used may include digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras in the visible and infrared, range finders, ambient light sensors and speedometers,’ a document explaining the project states. 

Called the Vehicle Face System, the project is being spearheaded by Customs and Border Protection at the Anzalduas Border Crossing, located at the southern tip of Texas, in August

Called the Vehicle Face System, the project is being spearheaded by Customs and Border Protection at the Anzalduas Border Crossing, located at the southern tip of Texas, in August

HOW DOES IT WORK? 

The US Department of Homeland Security is testing facial recognition cameras at the Anzalduas Border Crossing, located at the southern tip of Texas.

It’s being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee in partnership with Homeland Security. 

The cameras will take photos of people arriving and departing the US and then officials will match the photos with visas and passports. 

Few details about the cameras have been released, but they reportedly draw on light sensors to reduce the glass barrier. 

This is possible because the cameras work in multiple focal lengths, which could allows it to discern between people and reflections in a car’s windshield.

Hector Santos-Villalobos, a scientist who leads the work in ORNL's Electrical and Electronics Systems Research division, helped develop the plenoptic camera

Hector Santos-Villalobos, a scientist who leads the work in ORNL’s Electrical and Electronics Systems Research division, helped develop the plenoptic camera

Scientists at ORNL developed a ‘plenoptic camera’ that can capture photos of someone in motion, thanks to sophisticated lenses that show several elements in focus at once, unlike traditional cameras that typically show one object in focus.

The camera is also fitted with a ray-tracing algorithm that can capture the iris of subjects, an extremely accurate biometric identifier, even under challenging conditions. 

Officials hope that the facial recognition system can take photos of people inside cars, even if they’re wearing hats or a driver wasn’t looking at the camera. 

Cameras are also fitted with ambient light sensors, range finders and remote speedometers.  

‘Visible images will be collected for different optics (e.g. focal lengths) and filters (e.g. attenuation and polarizers)’.

News of the trial comes after DHS announced in 2017 that it was looking for facial recognition technology to be used at the border. 

Specifically, they hoped to devise a system that could take photos of people inside cars, even if they’re wearing hats or a driver wasn’t looking at the camera. 

At the time, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) said the system would make it so that fewer cars would have to stop at border crossings, reducing ‘significant traffic delays’. 

In the past, facial recognition technology struggled to correctly identify individuals behind a windshield due to glares and other obstructions. However, these cameras works in multiple focal lengths and could be able to discern between a person and their reflection

In the past, facial recognition technology struggled to correctly identify individuals behind a windshield due to glares and other obstructions. However, these cameras works in multiple focal lengths and could be able to discern between a person and their reflection

However, the photos would also be uesd to ‘validate the identities of the occupants and document their entry or exit from the United States’. 

The work is part of a wider biometric data project, which involved installing facial recognition systems at various airports across the country, including New York, Los Angeles and six other cities. 

It’s also not the only novel technology being tested at the border. 

Last October, Border Patrol said that it’s considering implementing a surveillance balloon that would quickly spot illegal activity, as part of an effort to see if more eyes in the sky translate to fewer illegal crossings over the border. 

Agents in Texas recently finished a 30-day trial of the camera-toting, helium-filled balloon made by Drone Aviation Holding Corp. 

The work is part of a wider biometric data project, which installed facial recognition systems at various airports across the country, including New York, Los Angeles and six other cities

The work is part of a wider biometric data project, which installed facial recognition systems at various airports across the country, including New York, Los Angeles and six other cities

Naturally, privacy advocates worry about how facial recognition technology at the border will be implemented and what, if any, impacts it will have on privacy.

‘This is a way for the federal government to track people — monitoring who goes where and and what they do there,’ ACLU attorney Mitra Ebadolahi told the Verge. 

‘In a free society, we should all be able to safely live our lives without being watched, and targeted by the federal government’. 



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