Leak: Trump Admin Amasses Photo Collection of Children
Border agencies to register minors in biometrics sweep
As part of Trump’s war on immigration, the administration has ordered Border Patrol agents to photograph, fingerprint and collect other identifying data on all “alien minors” under the age of 14, according to an internal memo I obtained.
The homeland security order states that it “supersedes all previous guidance” protecting such children from the collection of this type of data, called “biometrics.” The intrusive new policy has not been previously reported.
Stressing that such collection is now “mandatory,” the February 12 memo was produced by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency of the Department now headed by former South Dakota governor Kristi Noem. Per the memo:
“Effective immediately, U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents will collect biometric data from alien minors encountered between ports of entry, regardless of age … To facilitate enforcement, biometric collection - including fingerprints, facial images, and other available modalities, as appropriate shall be captured in accordance with operational capabilities and technology at each location.”
The practice of collecting biometrics from minors has long been criticized by experts for their inaccuracy due to children’s fingerprints and other physical characteristics not being fully developed. Privacy concerns have also been raised by civil liberties advocates, summed up nicely by CBP’s own privacy impact assessment on biometrics published last November. The assessment noted that CBP holds onto biometric records for 75 years — basically an entire lifetime. It also acknowledges concerns about “false positive” results in biometric data.
The memo says the new policy is necessary “to track alien children following release from CBP custody,” citing criminals smuggling children across the border as a particular concern. Here’s what the memo says:
“The lack of biometric identifiers in CBP systems for alien minors under the age of 14 may enable criminal organizations to exploit children in smuggling schemes and has created significant tracking and identity verification challenges across the U.S. government. To support CBP’s immigration and other relevant missions, and to enhance the Government's ability to track alien children following release from CBP custody, broadening the use of multimodal biometrics is essential.”
Despite the DOGE whirlwind roiling the country, immigration remains President Trump’s top political priority. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order labeling immigration as an “invasion” — a term legal experts say makes a host of national security authorities available to him. That status was further codified in Trump’s executive order designating drug trafficking organizations “terrorist” groups, facilitating the involvement of the CIA in domestic matters. (This week, CNN and the New York Times reported on the use of CIA reconnaissance drones inside Mexico.)
Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, a source in the military special operations community informed me that U.S. operators had received orders to train for border missions.
"SOCNORTH [U.S. Special Operations Command North] would be focused on the asymmetric threats posed by TCOs [transnational criminal orgs]," the source said. "Collecting intel on their networks then looking to degrade those networks.”
On Wednesday, the New York Times also reported that the Army’s 7th Special Forces Group was in Mexico, conducting a training exchange with their Mexican counterparts.More special operations activity inside Mexico, and other CIA actions are planned to follow, numerous sources tell me.
The biometrics order gives a sense of how the Trump administration seeks to institutionalize its war against immigrants crossing the border. That data is fed into massive identity databases which then feed watchlists. The databases, available to state and local law enforcement agencies (directly or indirectly) will then be available to enable children to be tracked for the rest of their lives, whether they are admitted to the United States or sent back to their countries of birth.
— Edited by William M. Arkin
I suppose I'm jaded, a conspiratorial wing-nut or just a cynical old SoB but a lot of what the administration's is doing sounds like straight up data mining for Elon & friends. They might not be able to use it now but what better way to collect base line data for training AI's
No one in the musk/45 administration gives a shit about these kids being trafficked. (Unless they can profit from it) It's a data mining scheme for musk.