Biometric Tech Plays Backup in Recent CBP Border Arrest

The US Customs and Border Protection agency continues to promote the benefits of its biometric border control technology with the announcement that it has been used to confirm the identity of a man wanted on sexual assault charges in Texas.

The individual was apprehended while trying to cross the Anzalduas International Bridge. According to the CBP, officials initially became suspicious that he was a match for an outstanding arrest warrant during their primary queries of the man, and then used biometric technology to confirm that he was indeed wanted for arrest. Officials with the CBP’s Office of Field Operations (OFO) apprehended the man and turned him over to the Mission Police Department; extradition proceedings are underway.

In a statement, Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry director David Gonzalez said that this is the second incident within a few days involving an individual wanted over “this type of charge”.

The bust’s announcement comes just a couple of weeks after the CBP trumpeted its third arrest of a man travelling under a fraudulent identity using biometric screening technology at a land border. In each of those cases, its facial recognition technology raised the initial flag over a possible mismatch between the individuals and the identity documents presented; and while this latest arrest only used biometric identification as a secondary tool, it’s nevertheless another example of the technology’s utility in border screening, which the DHS’s border agency is keen to highlight in its public communications.

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November 20, 2018 – by Alex Perala