President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed a new policy that would allow federal officials to expand the collection of “biometrics” from illegal immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as other individuals involved in the immigration process, potentially including U.S. citizens.
A recent proposal outlined by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services explained that the Department of Homeland Security currently has “broad statutory authority to collect or require submission of biometrics from: applicants, petitioners, and beneficiaries for immigration benefits; any individual filing or associated with a benefit request, other request, or collection of information; and from aliens upon their arrest for purposes of processing, care, custody, and initiation of removal proceedings.”
The proposal explained that the Department of Homeland Security has determined that it needs to “expand its routine biometric collections to include individuals associated with immigration benefit requests or other requests or collection of information, and to perform other functions related to administering and enforcing the immigration and naturalization laws, such as verifying identity.” The department indicated that the use of biometrics to help with identity verification and management will aid its efforts to prevent fraud, combat trafficking, and confirm criminal history checks.
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In the proposal, the Department of Homeland Security proposed that “biometrics” be defined as “measurable biological (anatomical, physiological or molecular structure) or behavioral characteristics of an individual.” The proposal also states that the collection of biometrics would be required for “any individual, regardless of age, filing or associated with an immigration benefit request, other request, or collection of information, unless exempted” and would “expand biometrics collection authority upon alien arrest.”
According to Rolling Stone, another proposal by the Trump administration would extend the use of biometric data to include individuals who make short-term visits to the United States. The outlet noted that the proposal would allow immigration enforcement agencies to require the sponsors and household members of individuals seeking to go through the immigration process to submit biometrics to the federal government, potentially including U.S. citizens.
The Post Millennial reported that the Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that there will be “enhanced and continuous vetting” of individuals who immigrate to the United States for the “entire immigration lifecycle” to make sure that the individuals “continue to present no risks to national security or public safety.”
