UK steps up immigration enforcement with facial recognition technology

The UK Home Office is preparing to deploy live facial recognition (LFR) cameras at transport hubs and public events as part of Britain’s biggest immigration enforcement crackdown, The Guardian reports.

Policy documents show the technology will be used for “general immigration enforcement”, including non-criminal offences such as overstaying a visa.

The Home Office said using the cameras would cause less “disruption to the wider public compared to repeated enforcement visits at residential addresses or workplaces”.

No one under 18 will be placed on a watchlist, according to the documents.

A Home Office spokesperson said it was “considering further trials”.

Griff Ferris of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said giving immigration enforcement more power to use a “racist mass surveillance tool in public places is frightening”.

Sarah Lasoye, of the Open Rights Group, said: “Immigration enforcement and police forces are exploiting an absence of national legislation regulating uses of AI technologies, including facial recognition, in the public sector.”