CBP Catches Imposter at Dulles with Biometric Simplified Arrival System

The Simplified Arrival system helped US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents catch an imposter trying to enter the country at Washington Dulles International Airport. The man in question was traveling with a Senegal passport and a US travel visa that belonged to another individual, and was turned away after he was revealed to be an imposter.

CBP agents first became aware of the attempted deception when the man passed through the Simplified Arrival checkpoint. In that regard, the facial recognition system determined that the person using the passport to enter the country did not match the photos that CBP had on record for the name listed on that document.

The man was sent for a secondary inspection after being flagged. The subsequent fingerprint check confirmed that he was an imposter, since his prints were not the same as those that were submitted when the owner of the passport applied for the original travel visa. The false traveler never revealed his true identity, but had come to the country from Ethiopia by way of Ireland.

“Customs and Border Protection officers remain vigilant against the entry of travelers masquerading as others to circumvent our immigration laws and we are determined to not let that happen,” said CBP Baltimore Field Office Director of Operations Casey Durst. 

According to CBP, the Simplified Arrival system has led to the capture of nearly 300 imposters at US borders, including the one recently detained at Washington Dulles. The program was first launched in 2018, and has now been installed at 11 US airports following the most recent deployment at San Francisco International Airport at the end of September. Detroit and Houston are among the other airports with Simplified Arrival systems.

Simplified Arrival is designed to speed up border inspections to help agents process a greater number of passengers in a shorter amount of time. CBP scrapped plans to make facial recognition scans mandatory for US citizens after facing public backlash last December. 

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October 14, 2020 – by Eric Weiss