US: Biometric facial recognition comes to Las Vegas, Houston airports

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continued its federally mandated implementation of facial recognition biometric exit technology at US airports this week with new deployments at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport and Houston’s William P. Hobby International Airport. Beginning Aug. 8, CBP began deploying facial recognition technology on one daily flight from the Las Vegas to Guadalajara, Mexico, and also “select flights from HOU.” CBP did not identify the airlines involved in the program at either airport, and at Houston Hobby, CBP did not specify the routes. CBP began biometric technology deployments at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and at Washington Dulles (IAD) in June, followed by Chicago O’Hare (ORD) in July. CBP originally tested the technology at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in June 2016, as part of a DHS mandate issued in July 2015 to create a biometric entry and exit system to record the arrival and departure of “certain aliens.”<br/>