Victory! Biden Administration Rescinds Dangerous DHS Proposed Rule to Expand Biometrics Collection

Marking a big win for the privacy and civil liberties of immigrant communities, the Biden Administration recently rescinded a Trump-era proposed rule that would have massively expanded the collection of biometrics from people applying for an immigration benefit. Introduced in September 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposal would have mandated biometrics collection far beyond the status quo—including facial images, voice prints, iris scans, DNA, and even behavioral biometrics—from anyone applying for an immigration benefit, including immigrants and often their U.S. citizen and permanent resident family members.

The DHS proposed rule garnered more than 5,000 comments in response, the overwhelming majority of which opposed this unprecedented expansion of biometrics. Five U.S. Senators also demanded that DHS abandon the proposal.

EFF, joined by several leading civil liberties and immigrant rights organizations, submitted a comment that warned the proposal posed grave threats to privacy, in part because it permitted collection of far more data than needed to verify a person’s identity and stored all data collected in the same place—amplifying the risk of future misuse or breach. EFF’s comment also highlighted the burden on First Amendment activity, particularly because the breadth of sensitive biometrics required by the proposal could lay the groundwork for a vast surveillance network capable of tracking people in public places. That harm would disproportionately impact immigrants, communities of color, religious minorities, and other marginalized communities.

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