The US government’s use of biometric technology spent some time in the spotlight last night. Visiting as a guest on The Daily Show, Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie discussed, among other topics, biometric tracking of immigrants with host Trevor Noah.
Governor Christie extolled the benefits of using fingerprint biometrics to track immigrants – and here an emphasis was placed on itinerant laborers from Mexico – and ensure that they do not overstay their visits to the country. It’s a practice that is already being explored by the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP), which is preparing a trial project at the US-Mexico border in Otay Mesa, San Diego; but Governor Christie would like to see such a program massively expanded across the entire US-Mexico border. Noah took issue with the estimated seven billion dollar cost of the project (with respect to airport installations alone, he said), but Christie quipped that it would be “a lot less expensive than a 2000-mile wall across the entire southern border,” a reference to a straw man argument put forward in earnest by fellow candidate Donald Trump.
The short discussion was likely the first time many Daily Show viewers had become aware of the US government’s use of biometric technology, and as more such discussions filter into mainstream media it could become a serious and potentially controversial matter over privacy and civil rights concerns. It’s already coming under bipartisan scrutiny from high-level government representatives, though its association with Mexican immigration could eventually turn it into a partisan matter.
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October 1, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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