The U.S. Customs and Border Protection will start capturing facial and eye scans from foreigners entering the country from Mexico.

According to The Hamilton Spectator's report from The Associated Press, the new security check will begin in February and will require facial and eye scans from individuals traveling on foot through San Diego's Otay Mesa checkpoint.

The trial run will last through the end of June and will determine if U.S. authorities should increase biometric screenings to foreigners at all land crossings on the 1,954-mile (3,150-kilometre) border with Mexico, the news outlet added. Officials will check the accuracy of the cameras and equipment.

For more than two decades, Congress has required biometric screenings such as fingerprint, eye scans, and facial images from people departing the country, The Hamilton Spectator noted. However, the process came with financial and logistical challenges, with the lack of checkout system at land crossings an issue as well.

The move is carried out to combat undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., The Hamilton Spectator further reported. The government believes that these undocumented individuals have entered the country legally but stayed on expired visas.

A study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center in 2006 estimated that between 40 percent and 50 percent of people in the U.S. illegally overstayed their visas. This figure is "widely accepted by immigration experts but notoriously difficult to pin down," The Hamilton Spectator reported.

Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of U.S. immigration policy at the Migration Policy Institute, said that capturing biometrics from people leaving the country would address the entire system's largest shortcoming.

"It's a huge deal," Rosenblum said, as quoted in The Hamilton Spectator's report. "What they likely hope is this could be a fast exit check that won't be terribly expensive or time-consuming to implement."

Biometric screening has fueled criticisms from privacy advocates, who are concerned that authorities may misuse the information gathered or make it susceptible to identity theft, the news outlet added. There are also concerns coming from businesses and travelers who fear more blockages at already congested land crossings.

"We have historically controlled our borders coming in but not out," said Jim Williams, a former Department of Homeland Security official who supervised efforts to initiate biometric screenings at border crossings from 2003 to 2006, as reported by The Hamilton Spectator. "It's been a lack of infrastructure and lack of investment."

Meanwhile, Congress voted this week on an "unprecedented" right that would allow immigrants to relocate to the U.S. easier, The Washington Free Beacon wrote. The legislation comes from Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy and would forbid the U.S. government from denying entry to any individual based on their religion.