Feds Launch $4 Million Mobile App to Track Migrants

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has launched ReportIn, a new app designed to track permanent residents, foreign nationals, and refugee claimants subject to immigration enforcement conditions — reports the Toronto Star.

ReportIn uses facial recognition and location data to confirm a person’s identity and location. According to Canada’s border control agency, individuals awaiting deportations or final decisions on their immigration status in Canada can volunteer for the app instead of detention and use it to check in with border agents remotely instead of at a Canada Border Services Agency office.

The CBSA previously had a voice reporting system for individuals facing immigration enforcement proceedings, but that was decommissioned in March. According to the agency, at least 40 people have voluntarily signed up for the ReportIn app since its launch on November 13.

While Ottawa is positioning the ReportIn app as a convenient reporting tool, experts are concerned about its potential as a means of surveillance and removal.

“An individual’s location will be shared with the CBSA when the individual submits a report, and if an individual fails to comply with their reporting condition, an investigation is opened,” said CBSA spokesperson Rebecca Purdy. “ReportIn does not continuously track their movements through their phone as a means of ongoing surveillance.”

Eligible candidates who sign up for the ReportIn app go through an orientation process at a CBSA office. During the process, they are informed about how their personal information will be collected, used, and disclosed.

Once onboarded, the individual receives a unique code to access the ReportIn app. ReportIn uses facial recognition technology similar to facial unlocking on smartphones to verify a user’s identity. The Canada Revenue Agency launched a similar system for ID verification earlier this year.

“If the client chooses not to share their location at the time of reporting, they will be ineligible for remote reporting and other alternatives to detention will be assessed,” Purdy noted.

Kristen Thomasen, a Professor at the University of Windsor, questioned whether the ReportIn program is truly voluntary since the choices of anyone subject to immigration enforcement conditions are between detention, a disruptive schedule of in-person check-ins, or sharing their location and downloading facial surveillance technology onto their personal device.

Regarding concerns over facial recognition technology’s track record of higher match error rates for certain ethnicities, Purdy pointed to an evaluation of the ReportIn app conducted by Credo AI, a third-party company, that found a 99.9% facial match rate across six different demographic groups.

“The ReportIn app does not make automated decisions. It is a facial matching system that has many checks and verifications in place to determine entitlement and validate identity,” she said. One of these many checks and verifications is a manual review of all ReportIn submissions by human staff.

ReportIn’s launch comes as the federal government faces mounting pressure to combat the growing housing and affordability crisis by halting Canada’s population boom and reducing immigration. The app’s introduction also coincides with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatening the Canadian government to tighten border security and stop irregular migration or face a 25% tariff on Canadian imports.

Ottawa, however, insists the ReportIn app has been in development since June 2021 and has nothing to do with the U.S. presidential election results and politics. While the feds are marketing ReportIn as a convenience, experts and critics warn its biometric information collection and surveillance capabilities have the potential to go very wrong.

The CBSA said the ReportIn app cost a whopping $3.8 million to develop over four years, and an additional $600,000 is earmarked for ongoing support. That might not be much compared to the $54 million fiasco that was the ArriveCan app, but it’s still a lot.

What do you think about Ottawa’s new migrant-tracking app? Let us know in the comments below.