UK authorities would utilize facial recognition technology as part of a new proposal aimed at enhancing migration control. Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch has outlined plans to implement facial recognition for the identification of immigrants targeted for deportation despite civil liberty concerns.

Kemi Badenoch [1] the Shadow Opposition leader and leader of Conservative Party intends to implement facial recognition technology to identify immigrants for deportation. According to Sky News, [2] this technology would be used without prior notification. The biometric tracking of undocumented immigrants is part of a broader strategy aimed at removing 150,000 individuals from the country annually, with an estimated cost of approximately £1.6 billion. Plans announced by the Conservatives to use facial recognition technology [3] to monitor undocumented immigrants would be a complete overhaul of the asylum system, other plans include withdrawal from an international human rights treaty. “The fact is, there are too many people in our country who should not be here, they don’t belong here, they are committing crimes, they are hurting people,” said Badenoch. The increase in the use of live facial recognition technology is expected to face criticism, as it raises concerns regarding individual freedom and privacy. Facial recognition technology [4] employed by the Home Office to access passport and immigration databases raises concerns, as each search may involve biometric scans of potentially millions of photographs. 

Silkie Carlo [5] the director of Big Brother Watch said, “The government has taken all of our passport photos and secretly turned them into mugshots to build a giant, Orwellian police database without the public’s knowledge or consent and with absolutely no democratic or legal mandate. This has led to repeated, unjustified and ongoing intrusions on the entire population’s privacy,” warned Carlo. “This astonishing revelation shows both our privacy and democracy are at risk from secretive AI policing, and that members of the public are now subject to the inevitable risk of misidentifications and injustice. Police officers can secretly take photos from protests, social media, or indeed anywhere and seek to identify members of the public without suspecting us of having committed any crime.”

The Shadow Opposition states that a new force to establish, detain and deport individuals [6] who have entered the UK was inspired by the US immigration enforcement team called [7] the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE. Kemi Badenoch [8] told ITV, “We must tackle the scourge of illegal immigration into Britain and secure our borders. That is why the Conservatives are setting out a serious and comprehensive new plan to end this crisis. Reform have nothing but announcements that fall apart on arrival. Our Stronger Borders plan is serious and credible and backed by a comprehensive legal analysis. That is the difference the next Conservative government will deliver.”

However, Audrey Knutson from the Indiana University has warned about the dangers and violation of civil liberties when it comes to facial recognition to tackle undocumented immigration in her research [9] titled The Unconstitutional Use of Facial Recognition on Undocumented Immigrants and Solutions in IP, “Despite the drastic changes to the world of immigration since 1984, American courts have failed to increase the privacy rights of undocumented immigrants. Constitutional violations are continually being repeated in deprivations of liberty and property resulting in family separations, children without parents, and children in border prisons.” Knutson concludes, “The dangers of facial recognition are currently being debated in legislatures and courts all over the country. The California legislature has already banned facial recognition software on police body cams. The ACLU is suing the Department of Justice, FBI, and DEA over the use of facial recognition software saying the ‘government's use of biometric identification and tracking technologies tools that enable undetectable, persistent and suspicion less surveillance on an unprecedented level.’ The federal government continues to push the envelope with surveillance and facial recognition and drones at the Mexican border.”

Prior to tackling undocumented immigration, a report from Georgetown Law's Centre on Privacy and Technology reveals that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement has [10] employed facial recognition technology to access driver's license photographs of approximately one-third of adults in the United States. A report also reveals that ICE utilizes a “surveillance dragnet” that includes facial recognition technology, particularly through the examination of driver's license photographs for immigration enforcement purposes. This investigation involved numerous Freedom of Information Act requests and an analysis of the agency's contracting and procurement records. Allison McDonald, [11] a research fellow and an assistant professor at Boston University said, “The use of face recognition on DMV data is particularly egregious because people don't expect to have their images and personal data be shared with other agencies. This is a betrayal of the trust that people put in their state agencies and needs to stop. This doesn't mean that other, less covert uses of face recognition are unproblematic. There is ample evidence that face recognition is unreliable and biased, and is not a technology that should be used by police or immigration authorities.”