As I understand it, a great part of the problem at the borders is our inability to immediately process immigration seekers on site. So, asylum seekers are released into the US while their cases take years to be processed. It is believed that there are over 11 million illegal aliens in the US now representing an unmanageable burden to the US and many communities.

AI is becoming well established in the criminal and legal systems for many tasks, here and around the world. China even has a system that acts as a judge. In fact, that is what I am suggesting. An AI based “immigration judge” would make quick work of most cases at the border so that non-qualifying applicants could be held at the border for a same day train back south.

The AI immigrant software would have facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, height, weight, age and gender, tattoo recognition, lie detection and vetting with access to a variety of databases both in the US and worldwide for fact checking and previous criminal history. It would build its own database of those processed so it will be quick to filter out an individual if they try again to reenter the country in the future. Also, if an individual is involved in a crime in the US, this data would be useful to law enforcement. (some day it might even collect DNA, blood type, etc) If an immigrant claims to have technical skills, the AI would be able to verify the skill with a series of pertinent questions. It would also provide a psychiatric evaluation.

More than Yes or No, the software would be able to recommend that the applicant be considered for further consideration by a human judge.

Here’s how it might work: Imagine 500 terminals dispersed at several points along the border and each terminal could evaluate at least 20 applicants per 24 hr day. That’s 10,000 evaluations per day in real time. A group of 6 terminals would require a trained assistant and a border agent to escort the applicants to and from the terminals.

As word of this processing power spread coupled with immediate deportation, many migrants would be discouraged from the trip and would revert to legal applications. The border terminals could then be redeployed to screen the illegal aliens who have been previously released into the US, reducing that backlog. US embassies could use the software as well to help hopeful immigrants in their own country.

Ted Schaefer