Border security

DHS’s Biometric Entry/Exit System: 12 Years In The Making

Just fourteen years ago, nineteen men committed an act of terror that fundamentally changed how the nation operates. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 prompted the rethinking of our nation’s entire system of homeland security with the restructuring of operations in both public and private sectors.

One implementation in particular changed how the federal government collects data on foreign nationals entering the country: the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) biometric entry system, which has been fully operational at all land, air, and sea ports of entry since 2006.

However, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit report, DHS has faced numerous longstanding challenges in attempting to fully deploy a biometric exit capability to track foreign nationals. A biometric exit system would be able to track foreign nationals exiting the country through biometric data, fingerprints, and allow for the most accurate foreign national overstay numbers.

Having a biometric system entry/exit system is essential to accurately identifying overstays—individuals who were admitted legally on a temporary basis but then overstayed their authorized periods of admission. Although many overstays are motivated by economic opportunities, GAO noted that five of the nineteen men who orchestrated the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were overstays.