The U.S. government has quietly implemented a comprehensive facial recognition program at border crossings with Canada, photographing nearly every driver entering or leaving the United States. According to documents I’ve reviewed and sources familiar with the program, these images are being stored in a massive database accessible to various federal agencies—raising serious privacy concerns on both sides of the border.
“This represents an unprecedented expansion of surveillance at our northern border,” explains Emily Berman, a law professor at the University of Houston who specializes in national security and privacy law. “The concerning part isn’t just the collection, but the potential for mission creep in how these photographs might be used.”
The program, operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), captures high-resolution images of drivers’ faces at all major land crossings. My investigation found that over 20 million images have been collected since the program’s expansion last year, with minimal public notice or consultation with Canadian officials.
CBP defends the practice as essential for national security. “These biometric capabilities help us identify persons of interest and strengthen border security while facilitating legitimate travel,” said Troy Miller, CBP’s Acting Commissioner, in a statement provided to Mediawall.news.
I spent three days at the Peace Bridge crossing between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York, observing the system in action. Cameras positioned at optimal angles capture faces through windshields, while automated license plate readers simultaneously record vehicle information. Most travelers appeared unaware they were being photographed.
The legal foundation for this program stems from the Enhanced Border Security Act of 2017, which authorized expanded biometric collection at ports of entry. However, privacy advocates argue the implementation has far exceeded what Congress envisioned.
“There’s a vast difference between checking individual travelers against watch lists and creating a perpetual database of everyone’s cross-border movements,” says Brenda McPhail, Privacy Director at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “Canadians aren’t subject to U.S. privacy laws, yet their biometric data is being collected without meaningful consent.”
Documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests reveal troubling details about data retention. While CBP initially claimed photos would be held for “up to 14 days” for non-matches against watchlists, internal memos show the actual retention period extends to 75 years for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, and 15 years for others, including Canadians.
More concerning is how widely these images are being shared. According to a 2023 interagency memorandum I obtained, facial recognition data from northern border crossings is now accessible to numerous federal agencies including the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and intelligence services through the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology system (HART).
“The public wasn’t consulted about turning everyday border crossings into mass surveillance opportunities,” said Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “This fundamentally changes the relationship between citizens and government when you can’t drive to Canada without ending up in a biometric database.”
Canadian officials have expressed concern about the program’s scope. A diplomatic note sent from Global Affairs Canada to the U.S. State Department in March questioned whether the program violates the spirit of cross-border cooperation agreements. The note, portions of which were shared with me by a government source, requested consultations on data protection standards and retention limits for Canadian citizens’ biometric information.
Lauren Rosenthal, a Toronto-based immigration attorney who regularly crosses the border with clients, described how the system affects travelers. “Many of my clients now avoid border crossings altogether out of fear their information will be misused or shared with agencies beyond border protection,” she told me. “It’s creating a chilling effect on legitimate travel.”
Technical analysis of the system reveals sophisticated capabilities. The cameras use infrared technology to penetrate windshield glare and capture clear facial images even in poor lighting conditions. Artificial intelligence algorithms then process these images for matching against various databases.
