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I recently reentered the US after a short vacation (the first time I'd been out of the country for a couple of years) and the CBP now have cameras/face scanners. The agent said hello using my name before I'd even handed over my passport -- in fact I don't think he even looked at it.

I assume they must be face-matching on the passport photo database.

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Yes, passport photos have been used for facial recognition for a long time now.

Interesting, the camera is usually a bit behind the officer, perpendicular to the lane. Did you walk past the station or was it pointed towards you?

I walked up to the window (into the view of the camera) he said "Welcome home $NAME" as put my passport on the counter!

The camera was right by the counter, not behind the officer.

Yes this seems variable based on point of entry. I had (have?) a flagged passport for awhile and I never got the oh shit face from CBP until they scanned my passport.

Curious, why are you flagged? Visited an unsavory country?

Maybe like Tulsi Gabbard they made an enemy of someone in power.

I fought in a US-allied foreign militia against ISIS . So yes.

Is this something you've blogged about or otherwise discussed in more detail? A college acquaintance of mine ended up in Syria with the YPG and I found it fascinating in a that's-so-fucking-cool-but-I-could-never way.

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