EU prepares to give US direct access to police and immigration databases
Topic
Country/Region
29 August 2025
The massive increase in violent immigration raids, detention and deportation underway in the US has put off many people from visiting the country. Soon there may be yet another reason to think twice about taking a trip to the “land of the free”: US immigration and law enforcement agencies could be given the power to search European databases, to identify people posing “a threat to US security.”
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Image: Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0
New transatlantic data “partnership”
The EU is planning to strike a deal with the US that would let the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies search European databases to identify people posing “a threat to US security,” according to a proposal published by the European Commission at the end of July.
There was no press announcement from the Commission, nor any mention of it in the public record of the informal Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting that was taking place the same day.
The demand to open up European databases to US agencies is referred to as an “Enhanced Border Security Partnership,” and is a new addition to the US Visa Waiver Programme (VWP).
The US has been promoting these plans to “partner” states for at least three years, with publicity materials obtained by Statewatch in 2022 promising “fully automated” searches and exchanges of biometric, biographic and other data.
The essential idea is that US officials who “encounter” a foreign national – in situations ranging from border controls to violent, racist immigration raids – would be able to use their fingerprints or ID number to search databases in all states with an EBSP agreement.
This is supposed to help “authenticate effectively the identity of travellers from partner countries and determine whether they represent a threat to US security.”
Millions of innocent Europeans in police databases
As former Pirate Party MEP Patrick Breyer said three years ago:
Millions of innocent Europeans are listed in police databases and could be exposed to completely disproportionate reactions in the USA. The US lacks adequate data and fundamental rights protection.
Since the start of the second Trump presidency, the likelihood of “disproportionate reactions” has only become more likely.
However, the traffic would not just be one way. The EU will be seeking “reciprocity” from the US, meaning national officials in EU member states could carry out searches of the Department of Homeland Security’s enormous databanks, which contain data from the US and other countries.
Massive expansion in data-sharing
Under the VWP, countries whose citizens can travel to the US without a visa already have to let US agencies search their police databases, to see whether travellers have been involved in terrorism or serious crime.
The new plan would massively expand this kind of data-sharing.
The Commission’s proposal for an agreement with the US would allow searches for “security screenings and identity verifications relating to border procedures and applications for visa.”
The agreement should also cover the “prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes and terrorist offences,” says the proposal.
This suggests a massive broadening of the scope from what is currently in VWP agreements, which relate to serious crime – not simply “crime” in general.
The proposal says the agreement should include conditions to “prevent queries on persons in all cases, without any previous suspicion.”
However, EU institutions have previously noted that the US plan would require “continuous and systematic transfers” of sensitive personal data. This seems to suggest quite the opposite of targeted searches.
Framework agreement to allow bilateral deals
While the EU and US have an ‘Umbrella Agreement’ for the exchange of personal data in relation to criminal law, the broader scope of the EBSP plans necessitates a new agreement, as reported by Statewatch last year.
According to the Commission’s proposal, the purpose of an EU-US agreement would be to:
…set out the legal structure and conditions for the exchange of information between the competent authorities of the EU Member States and of the U.S., based on which the Member States would be empowered to establish bilateral agreements for an exchange of information with the U.S. from their national information technology (IT) systems.
There is no mention in the proposal of US access to any of the EU’s huge policing and immigration databases – though given their size and scope, it is hard to imagine that US officials would not want to get their hands on the data.
Data protection law: “necessary and appropriate”
The Commission’s proposal does not mention data protection law until the third page, when it says an agreement would need “the necessary and appropriate data protection safeguards for such information exchange.”
Quite how this might be ensured is unclear.
US privacy law ostensibly designed to provide redress to Europeans was already insufficient, even before the Trump administration’s ongoing demolition of privacy and data protection standards – not to mention the broader erasure of the rule of law within the US.
The negotiation directives were published alongside the proposal.
They say the agreement should include clauses for termination or suspension, “in particular where the U.S. no longer effectively ensures the level of protection of fundamental rights and freedoms required under the framework agreement.”
Many would argue that this is already the case, and that the EU should not even countenance such an agreement – but on the other hand, the US authorities have set a December 2026 deadline for getting an agreement in place.
The negotiation directives also set out more detailed requirements for the data protection standards that should be included in the agreement.
Whether they will survive negotiations with the US – and whether they would be worth any more than the paper they are written on – is an open question.
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Further reading
New EU-US agreement for “systematic exchange” of personal data under consideration
US authorities are demanding direct access to EU member state databases for “routine traveller screening” in return for ongoing visa-free travel to the US. The demands fall outside the scope of existing EU-US agreements on the exchange of personal data. The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU suggested a new international treaty may be needed to facilitate the transfers – but also questioned whether the data exchange proposed by the US “is even possible under the EU-legislation.”
USA seeks bilateral deals for access to European “criminal, terrorist, and identity records”
The USA’s proposed Enhanced Border Security Partnerships would entail “systematic and continuous” exchanges of sensitive personal data between participating states. The European Commission has indicated that its working group with the USA has stopped operating, and that plans are instead being negotiated bilaterally between member states and the USA.
EU and USA plough ahead with secret discussions on biometric data exchange scheme
The EU and USA are discussing a proposed “Enhanced Border Security Partnership” which would involve “continuous and systematic” transfers of biometric data in both directions, but the Commission has refused to release documents that would provide further information to the public.
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