The Home Office is preparing to deploy facial recognition technology at transport hubs and public events as part of the biggest immigration enforcement crackdown in British history.
Policy documents show the government has been developing a programme to deploy live facial recognition (LFR) cameras for “general immigration enforcement”, including non-criminal immigration offences.
Between November last year and February, immigration enforcement conducted three trials of LFR technology at Holyhead port in north Wales.
Locations where immigration enforcement could deploy facial recognition cameras have also been expanded to include “proactive” deployments at transport hubs and at “specific” events which are “expected to increase footfall at a location”, although no specific geography is named.
She 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.”