America Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) has introduced new border laws that can require all non-US residents, together with Inexperienced Card holders, to be photographed when coming into and leaving the nation. The rule, set to take impact on December 26, 2025, is a part of the Trump administration’s continued efforts to tighten immigration controls and strengthen nationwide safety.
In line with a report by India At the moment, the DHS mentioned that every one immigrants and non-citizens will now be photographed upon each entry and exit, increasing present knowledge assortment practices which were in place since 2004. Beforehand, solely sure classes of travellers have been required to supply biometric knowledge equivalent to fingerprints and pictures.
The US Customs and Border Safety (CBP) will now broaden its biometric assortment to incorporate land, sea, and air ports of entry. As per the Hindustan Occasions, CBP officers will accumulate pictures and different biometric particulars from practically all non-citizens, eradicating earlier exemptions for travellers beneath 14 and above 79 years of age. This implies each international nationwide, together with long-term residents and Inexperienced Card holders, will now be topic to biometric seize when coming into or leaving the US.
Citing Bloomberg, India At the moment reported that CBP will use knowledge from passports, visa purposes, and pictures captured by border officers, integrating them with facial comparability know-how to verify travellers’ identities. DHS mentioned this method will assist fight identification fraud, forestall the usage of pretend journey paperwork, and observe people who overstay their visas.
Officers additionally pointed to nationwide safety advantages, explaining that the improved entry-exit system would assist detect circumstances of terrorism, fraudulent documentation, and incomplete biographic knowledge. The Federal Register submitting by CBP said that implementing a unified biometric verification system would shut long-standing gaps in border monitoring.
A 2023 Congressional Analysis Service report, cited by Reuters, estimated that visa overstays accounted for practically 42% of the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US. The DHS believes this growth will assist handle that difficulty extra successfully.
Since assuming workplace in January 2025, President Donald Trump has launched a sequence of stringent immigration measures, together with ending birthright citizenship and increasing ICE raids to deport people labelled as “unlawful felony aliens.” The Hindustan Occasions reported that his administration has additionally carried out stricter screening for visa candidates and Inexperienced Card holders, together with social media vetting, which has already led to detentions and visa cancellations.
Nonetheless, the brand new biometric rule has drawn criticism from civil rights teams and privateness advocates. A 2024 report by the US Fee on Civil Rights warned that facial recognition know-how tends to misidentify Black people and different minorities extra continuously. Bloomberg quoted Cody Venzke, senior coverage counsel on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), saying that the know-how “is unreliable, disproportionately harms folks of color, and serves as the inspiration for a perpetual surveillance state.”
Regardless of privateness issues, CBP officers preserve that the biometric entry-exit system will considerably improve border safety. In line with Hindustan Occasions, the company expects full implementation of the system throughout all business airports and seaports throughout the subsequent three to 5 years.