WASHINGTON, USA (CMC) — The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency says it has begun using facial comparison technology at John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York to help verify that Caribbean and other travellers entering the United States match the passport presented.

On Wednesday, CBP said the initial deployment applies to some first-time Visa Waiver Program (VWP) travellers, as well as returning US citizens with ePassports.

“CBP continues to provide innovative technologies to enhance homeland security while facilitating international travel,” said CBP Commissioner R Gil Kerlikowske.

“This biometric capability will aid our officers in identifying legitimate travellers while protecting them from fraud and identity theft with little to no delay to the entry process. CBP continues to implement technologies that benefit both national security and the traveller.”

The technology compares an image of the traveller taken during the normal inspection process to the image stored on the traveller’s ePassport, verifying that the traveller is the rightful document holder, CBP said.

The images taken will be deleted unless it determines that further administrative or enforcement actions are necessary.

“CBP remains committed to protecting the privacy and civil rights and civil liberties of all travellers,” said the statement, adding that CBP tested facial comparison technology last year at Washington Dulles International Airport.

The results of that testing determined the system successfully performed matches against actual passports and live captured images.

CBP first established biometric screening procedures based on digital fingerprints for certain non-US citizens in 2004 “to secure our borders and ensure that the foreign travellers presenting themselves for admission to the United States are who they claim to be”.

The customs agency also said it is conducting additional tests to evaluate new biometric technologies in multiple environments in fiscal year 2016 “to further secure and facilitate legitimate travel in a way that does not disrupt operations”.

Since 2007, CBP said US passports have had a chip embedded in them that securely stores the same information that’s on the photo page of the passport, which includes a biometric identifier in the form of a digital image of the passport photograph.

CBP said this facilitates the use of facial comparison technology at ports of entry into the US.

In order to maintain participation in the Visa Waiver Program, CBP said VWP countries also issue ePassports, which contain an electronic chip that holds the same information that is printed on the passport’s data page: the holder’s name, date of birth, and other biographic information, in addition to a digital photograph of the holder.