January 15, 2026
Mr. Thompson of Mississippi (for himself, Mr. Correa, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Clarke of New York, Ms. Meng, and Mr. Espaillat) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
To prohibit the use of facial recognition mobile phone applications outside ports of entry, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Realigning Mobile Phone Biometrics for American Privacy Protection Act
.
Sec. 2. Prohibition on the use of facial recognition mobile phone applications outside ports of entry
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall develop standards and guidelines for the Department of Homeland Security and its components—
(1)
prohibiting the use of the Mobile Fortify Mobile Application, Mobile Identify Mobile Application, or successor applications, except for identification purposes at ports of entry;
(2)
prohibiting the Department and its components from sharing the Mobile Fortify Mobile Application, Mobile Identify Mobile Application, or successor applications with any other Federal agency or any State, local, Tribal, or territorial agency;
(3)
requiring—
(A)
the removal of the Mobile Fortify Mobile Application, Mobile Identify Mobile Application, or any successor applications from Department and component information technology, except as necessary for identification purposes at ports of entry, in accordance with paragraph (1); and
(B)
the Department to remotely render inoperable any such applications downloaded on non-Department information technology;
(4)
except as provided in paragraph (5), requiring the immediate destruction of any image, photograph, or fingerprint of any United States citizen captured through the use of the Mobile Fortify Mobile Application, Mobile Identify Mobile Application, any successor applications before such standards and guidelines are implemented, wherever such image, photograph, or fingerprint may be stored; and
(5)
requiring the destruction of any image, photograph, or fingerprint of a United States citizen captured through the use of the Mobile Fortify Mobile Application, Mobile Identify Mobile Application, or successor applications for identification purposes at ports of entry pursuant to paragraph (1) not later than 12 hours after such image, photograph, or fingerprint is captured.