The Department of Homeland Security is rolling out a new surveillance dragnet for non-U.S. citizens at any point of departure from the country, starting the day after Christmas.
The new rule allows Customs and Border Protection to photograph visitors, immigrants and green card holders leaving the United States. As the agency noted in its announcement in the Federal Register, there is currently no system in place to collect biometric data on people leaving the country.
In the announcement, agency heads said they want to collect biometric data of people coming into the country to compare it with the data of people leaving. They said the data would be used to combat potential terror threats, prevent visa overstays and visa fraud. It also does away with a rule that those under 14 and over 79 were exempt from having to submit to having their photo taken.
DHS is collecting comments from the public on the implementation until Nov. 26.
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