February 15, 2023
Wyden First Requested Upgrade Passport Tech in 2018; The New System Has Already Contributed to Arrests of 12 People Using Fake Documents
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., thanked U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for following through on a long-overdue technology upgrade that detects forged passports. Wyden requested the upgrade nearly 5 years ago, during the Trump administration, in order to strengthen border security.
“Upgrading passport security is a commonsense way to ensure people entering our country are who they say they are. It is already making America safer, without resorting to invasive searches or massive databases of private data,” Wyden said. “I commend CBP for following through and ensuring forgers and criminals can’t use fraudulent passports to skate through security at the border.”
e-Passports include microchips that securely store biometric data in a way that allows third parties to confirm the passport is authentic and the digital data on the microchip hasn’t been tampered with. Wyden and former Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., first wrote to CBP in 2018, noting that the agency had not implemented technology to electronically verify passports, 11 years after visitors from Visa Waiver countries were required to have e-Passports to enter the U.S.
CBP notified Wyden’s office last week that it deployed the e-Passport verification system in June 2022, and had validated more than 3 million passports from nations in the Visa Waiver program using technology. The agency also said the system “has contributed to the arrest of 12 individuals who attempted to enter the United States with fraudulent documents. During primary processing, the e-Passport technology alerted on the documents and the travelers were referred to secondary where CBP officers determined that the travelers were in possession of fraudulent travel documents.”
CBP informed Wyden’s office that it now has the ability to verify e-Passports from all Visa Waiver countries, with the exception of Andorra, a small nation located between France and Spain. Wyden has urged CBP to ensure Andorran e-Passports can also be verified.
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