Lawmakers push back on proposed DHS data collection expansion

Nearly 50 House Democrats, led by New York’s Yvette Clarke, are requesting the Department of Homeland Security reconsider a proposed rule that would expand biometric data collection and allow its reuse across migration and naturalization processes. 

The expansion of biometric data collection for the department was introduced in a notice of proposed rulemaking published to the Federal Register in November. The proposal laid out plans to broaden DHS’s authorities by amending regulations governing biometrics use and collections and widening the scope. 

“The proposed rule provides no meaningful detail on how DHS will secure, limit, or oversee the new and expansive datasets it would create,” the congressional members said in the December letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow. “It lacks information on cybersecurity protections, retention limits, access controls, independent auditing, or transparency mechanisms.”

The group of Democrats, which represent 19 states and the District of Columbia, warned of eroding privacy and public trust, pointing to recent breaches of biometric systems, the dangers of surveillance infrastructure and the lack of safeguards.

“DHS must adopt a framework that protects individuals — not one that exposes millions of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and immigrant families to unnecessary and unmitigated risk,” the lawmakers said. 

Emerging and advanced technologies continue to become core to DHS and ICE operations. DHS has prioritized its overhaul of legacy biometric identification systems this year, centralizing control under the office of the CIO and modernizing its Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology system. 

An amended biometric entry-exit program regulation is slated to go into effect Dec. 26. The Notice of Final Rule published at the end of November highlighted the removal of prior exemptions for diplomats and most Canadian visitors as well as lessening limitations on pilot programs.

“With increased funding to support this critical mission, we will continue to expand facial biometrics and advanced technology for identity verification to further secure and innovate the entry/exit process at air, land, and sea,” Diane Sabatino, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s acting executive assistant commissioner of the Office of Field Operations, said in a statement accompanying the Notice of Final Rule. 

The changes come after the White House initiated a review of biometric operations in May, FedScoop previously reported. 

DHS says biometric technology is generally used to prevent identity fraud and support border operations, but lawmakers and advocacy groups continue to question the security of systems and established guardrails. 

Last week’s letter is the latest to sound the alarm. Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts re-upped a request for information about ICE’s deployment of a biometric mobile phone application used to identify people with facial recognition in a November letter signed by several other Senate Democrats. The League of Women Voters, Electronic Privacy Information Center and several other plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against DHS in September, citing the department’s data collection and aggregation practices.