Home Office documents show the department is preparing to use live facial recognition cameras at transport hubs and public events for general immigration enforcement, in what has been described as the biggest immigration crackdown in British history.

Liberty Investigates, reporting with The Guardian, says the project has now moved into what the documents call the formal delivery phase. The cameras would identify people on watchlists, which could include people who overstayed a visa or entered without leave — civil matters, not only criminal offences.

Trials so far, and the safeguards

Three trials took place at Holyhead port between November 2025 and February 2026, focused narrowly on Common Travel Area travellers in breach of deportation orders or wanted for an immigration-related criminal offence. Under-18s will not be listed, the documents say.

An impact assessment published in October sets out safeguards: watchlists are time-limited, every alert must be checked by a human, and images of non-matches are deleted automatically. Guidance published on 8 October underpins the scheme.

What the Home Office has — and has not — confirmed

A Home Office spokesperson confirmed only that further trials are being considered and their benefits explored. No nationwide timetable and no list of deployment locations has been announced.

Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner William Webster said he was not consulted and that immigration use falls outside his remit, adding its spread "does raise important questions about the scope of existing regulatory oversight".

Campaigners raise concerns

Campaigners criticised the plans. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and the Open Rights Group argue the technology risks racial bias and routine surveillance of people who have committed no crime, claims the Home Office has not accepted. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has doubled the enforcement budget and raised its workforce by 60 per cent.

Sources: Liberty Investigates, Home Office facial recognition immigration enforcement, 4 November 2026, https://libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/home-office-facial-recognition-immigration-enforcement/ ; The Guardian, 4 November 2026; GOV.UK, live facial recognition data protection impact assessment, October 2026.