Canada Launches Facial Recognition App to Keep Tabs on Individuals Awaiting Deportation

A Canada Border Services Agency patch is seen on a CBSA officer’s uniform in Tsawwassen, B.C., on Dec. 16, 2022. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has developed a mobile application with facial recognition capabilities to keep track of those who are required to report to border agents, including those awaiting deportation.

Along with facial recognition, the app also provides GPS locations of users to the CBSA, according to the agency’s website. The app, dubbed ReportIn, is part of the CBSA’s Alternatives to Detention program, which allows individuals to be released from detention under certain conditions.

CBSA officers will determine eligibility to use the app on a case-by-case basis, the website said. While the app allows individuals to check in with the agency remotely, getting started requires an in-person visit to a CBSA office.

During the enrolment, individuals are informed about the personal information collected and stored, which includes name, address, phone number, email address, and employment information. Users will also need to provide multiple photographs of their face, CBSA said.

“The individual will need to formally agree to allow the app to collect and share personal information with the CBSA, including a facial photo and their location details,” the website said. “If the individual does not wish to have this information collected and shared, other Alternatives to Detention (ATD) options will be assessed.”

Following enrolment, the individual will be given a code that allows them to access the app, according to the website.

Users are expected to submit new photographs through the app when it is time to report, CBSA said.

“A CBSA officer validates every photo sent in order to ensure that the individual reporting corresponds to the individual with reporting conditions.”

Location information is also shared with the CBSA through the phone’s GPS.

“The CBSA will use this information to verify that the individual is complying with their conditions,“ the website says. ”The individual’s location may also be shared with the CBSA when the individual does not comply with their reporting condition.”

The app’s release comes as Ottawa faces pressure over immigration, and reports that the CBSA has lost track of more than 28,000 foreign fugitives with active deportation orders.

An Inquiry of Ministry filed earlier this year by Conservative MP Brad Redekopp revealed that there were 28,145 active warrants for failed refugee claims in Canada. That number was down slightly from October 2023, when there were 29,248 active warrants.

Of the missing individuals, 410 were said to have been convicted of crimes in Canada, and 236 convicted of crimes in their country of origin.

Those numbers are a jump from a 2021 document, which estimated 2,000 people who have been ordered to leave the country don’t show up each year. The CBSA says it spends considerable resources investigating, locating, and sometimes detaining the individuals, the document said.

The agency said the new app will engage individuals and help keep them visible to the government. It also said that if someone fails to show up to be deported, information gathered through the app can provide investigative leads to tracking the person down.

Canadians have been sending a message to the Liberal government that they would like to see immigration numbers reduced. In an October Leger poll, one in two surveyed said the number of immigrants being let into the country is too high. That’s a seven-point increase since November 2023, the survey said.

The federal government is also facing challenges over the border with the United States. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will put a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada unless the country tightens its borders.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.