U.S. Customs and Border Protection says its facial-recognition entry and exit system has now processed more than 1 billion travelers across airports, seaports and land crossings, as the agency expands biometric screening nationwide with hundreds of millions of dollars in new federal funding.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has surpassed 1 billion traveler identity checks using facial biometrics, a milestone that reflects the rapid expansion of automated screening across the nation’s airports, land borders and seaports.
CBP announced Oct. 5 that its facial-comparison systems have now verified more than 1 billion travelers, up from approximately 807 million reported in September 2025. The technology compares a live photograph of a traveler with existing government images, such as passport or visa photos, allowing officers to confirm that the person presenting travel documents is their legitimate holder.
“Accurately verifying the identity of over 1 billion travelers at air, land, and sea with facial biometrics signifies a historic achievement for CBP and the Department of Homeland Security,” Diane J. Sabatino, executive assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Field Operations, said in the agency’s announcement.
“This milestone is a powerful testament to our commitment to meeting the biometric Entry/Exit mandate by leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance national security, streamlining the travel experience, protecting privacy, and effectively combating threats like identity fraud,” Sabatino said.
CBP now uses facial biometrics for international arrivals at U.S. airports nationwide and at dozens of airports for international departures. The system has also been deployed broadly at land-border pedestrian crossings and increasingly at maritime ports.
The agency’s latest figures say facial biometrics are operating at 42 seaports, including cruise terminals where passenger information can be compared with facial images during embarkation or debarkation.
CBP has also placed the technology in all pedestrian lanes at ports of entry along both the northern and southwest borders. Selected land crossings are additionally testing or using facial comparison in vehicle lanes, extending the system beyond people entering on foot.
The agency says the technology has produced measurable immigration and identity-enforcement results.
Since 2018, CBP says biometric screening has identified more than 2,300 people attempting to enter the United States using another person’s legitimate travel documents. The agency’s current biometrics information lists more than 2,346 detected impostors.
CBP also says biometric entry-exit records have helped identify more than 600,000 foreign travelers who remained in the United States beyond their authorized period of admission.
The technology works through CBP’s Traveler Verification Service, or TVS, which automates facial matching using photographs that the government already possesses.
At an airport, for example, a traveler may pause briefly for a photograph during entry inspection or international boarding. The system compares that image with a limited gallery assembled from passport, visa or previous government photographs associated with the traveler.
A successful match helps establish that the person standing at the checkpoint is the same individual whose identity appears in government records.
If the system does not produce a match, the traveler can be sent to a traditional inspection in which an officer manually reviews travel documents and other identifying information.
The program is intended in part to fulfill a congressional requirement for the government to maintain a biometric entry-exit system for foreign nationals.
The push for a comprehensive system gained new urgency after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The 9/11 Commission and Congress both highlighted weaknesses in tracking the entry and departure of foreign visitors.
Subsequent legislation required the Department of Homeland Security to develop systems capable of recording biometric information from certain noncitizens entering and leaving the country.
Congress expanded those requirements in 2013, directing the government to develop an automated biometric exit capability at major ports of departure.
CBP ultimately determined that facial comparison was more practical for large-scale travel environments than requiring travelers to provide fingerprints at every departure.
The result has been a system that increasingly operates in the background of routine international travel.
At participating airports and cruise terminals, a passenger’s face can effectively become the credential used to confirm a passport or other travel record, eliminating or reducing the need for repeated manual document checks.
CBP says the system is designed to improve both speed and security, particularly in busy travel environments where officers may process thousands of people in a relatively short period.
The agency’s expansion is receiving a major new infusion of federal money.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump in 2025, included billions of dollars for CBP personnel, infrastructure and border-security technology.
Of that funding, $673 million was specifically directed toward further development and deployment of the biometric entry-exit system, according to congressional summaries of the law.
The investment is expected to help CBP extend the technology across additional ports of entry, upgrade existing systems and improve the infrastructure connecting biometric checks with immigration and travel databases.
The broader legislation allocated more than $6 billion for CBP border-security initiatives, including technology, staffing and port-of-entry improvements.
Privacy remains one of the most closely watched aspects of the program.
CBP says photographs newly captured from U.S. citizens through its biometric travel system are generally discarded within 12 hours after identity verification. A Department of Homeland Security privacy assessment states that U.S. citizens are not considered part of the population subject to mandatory biometric entry-exit collection and may opt out.
Foreign nationals subject to biometric requirements have different retention rules, with images and associated records stored in DHS systems consistent with immigration and border-security authorities.
U.S. citizens who do not want to participate can notify a CBP officer or participating airline representative and request conventional document inspection.
“Although U.S. citizens are not covered by this rule, they may continue to voluntarily participate in the facial biometrics process at entry and exit,” CBP has said.
“U.S. citizens who prefer to opt out of the facial biometrics process may simply notify a CBP officer or airline representative and undergo manual inspection of their passport, as required for international travel.”
CBP’s traveler guidance similarly states that American citizens can seek an alternative method of identity verification if they do not want their image taken.
Airlines and other private travel partners participating in the system may capture photographs, but CBP says partners are restricted in how long they can retain those images.
The technology is one component of a much larger federal biometric infrastructure.
The Department of Homeland Security operates the Automated Biometric Identification System, commonly known as IDENT, which acts as a central repository for biometric and associated identity information used in border enforcement, immigration, law enforcement, background investigations and national security.
A DHS biometric technology report said IDENT contained approximately 300 million unique identities at the time of the report and was processing about 400,000 biometric transactions each day.
The database has continued expanding as federal agencies collect and exchange facial images, fingerprints and, in more limited circumstances, iris information.
CBP also operates the Automated Targeting System, which evaluates traveler, cargo and transportation information against law-enforcement, intelligence and border-security databases.
Airlines operating international flights are additionally required to transmit specified passenger and reservation information to the government before travel.
CBP says that data is used to identify security risks, investigate transnational crime and prevent terrorist activity before travelers arrive at the border.
Facial biometrics adds an identity-verification layer to that system by determining whether the person physically presenting at the border is the same individual associated with those travel records.
The agency says that capability helps combat a particular type of fraud in which someone attempts to enter the United States using an authentic passport or visa belonging to another person.
Unlike an obviously counterfeit document, a legitimate passport presented by an impostor can be more difficult to identify during a brief visual inspection. Facial comparison gives officers an additional automated method of detecting the mismatch.
The milestone represents a major expansion from CBP’s early facial-recognition pilots.
The agency began testing biometric departure systems at selected airports more than a decade ago before expanding them through partnerships with airlines, airports and cruise operators.
By September 2025, CBP reported having processed more than 807 million travelers and identified more than 2,225 impostors.
Just over a year later, the total has crossed 1 billion identity checks as deployment continues at air, land and sea ports.
For CBP, the next phase will involve expanding coverage while balancing faster passenger processing, immigration enforcement and privacy concerns.
With another $673 million committed to the entry-exit system, facial recognition is becoming less of a pilot technology and more of a routine feature of international travel through the United States.
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