Sponsors (4)
The bill aims to strengthen U.S. border security and investigations by sharing and integrating biometrics collected abroad while creating substantial privacy, accuracy, governance, and cost risks for immigrants, foreign nationals, and potentially U.S. persons.
Law enforcement and border communities: earlier identification and interdiction of high‑risk foreign nationals because U.S. agencies can receive and act on biometrics collected by partner countries.
U.S. security and immigration screening: foreign-collected biometric data can be integrated into U.S. security databases, potentially improving investigations and the accuracy of border and screening checks.
Foreign partners and migrants: partner countries get training and equipment to collect and compare biometrics, strengthening screening capacity abroad and helping identify persons of interest earlier.
Immigrants and foreign nationals: expanded foreign collection and U.S. ingestion of biometric data increases privacy and surveillance risks for people whose data is uploaded to U.S. systems.
Immigrants and asylum seekers: relying on foreign‑collected biometric matches in immigration or asylum decisions risks erroneous denials, detention, or other harms if data quality, verification, or redress are inadequate.
Immigrants and foreign nationals: transferring biometric collection capability and data to/with foreign governments risks misuse or weak data protections abroad, leading to inaccurate enrollments and potential harm.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates BITMAP within DHS/ICE to collect, share, and integrate foreign biometric/biographic data with partners to pre-identify national security and border threats.
Official title: To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish in the Department of Homeland Security the Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 13, 2026 by Michael T. McCaul · Last progress April 13, 2026
Creates a new DHS program called the Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program (BITMAP) run by ICE to collect, share, and enroll foreign biometric and biographic data with partner countries and agencies to identify persons who may pose terrorism, national security, or border-security threats before they reach the U.S. border. The program authorizes DHS to provide training, equipment, and best-practice guidance to partner countries, incorporate collected data into U.S. security databases, and coordinate with federal, state, intelligence, and foreign partners while requiring compliance with the Privacy Act for U.S. data incorporation.