25 August 2005

US takes fingerprints, photographs at borders

The following article is excerpted from the 25 August 2004 edition of “globeandmail.com”.

U.S. authorities have begun photographing and fingerprinting Canadian landed immigrants and other foreigners who visit their country -- part of a new security initiative that has so far caught 500 criminals but no terrorists.

Canadian citizens are so far exempt from the controversial program, known as US-VISIT (Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology), in place at 14 seaports and 115 airports, including those in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. By the end of the year, the entry-exit controls will also be in place at 50 land crossings, including the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, the Detroit Ambassador Bridge, two ports of entry in Blaine, Wash., and 11 others across the country.

"The majority of Canadian citizens are still visa exempt. They will go through a vehicle or pedestrian lane and be quickly inspected and admitted," said Jim Williams, director of US-VISIT under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"Travellers say the system is quick and easy and we are catching bad people."

He held a media briefing in Buffalo yesterday to answer questions about the program, designed as part of the White House's war against international terrorism.

It affects about 40 million foreign visitors each year, and only citizens of Canada and Mexico, and some diplomats are exempt. Critics have called the entry-exit system unwieldy, costly and filled with loopholes.

All permanent residents of Canada who do not have citizenship must be photographed and have two index fingers digitally scanned, which takes about 10 seconds. This biometric data are then checked against an FBI watch list of known or suspected terrorists, wanted criminals and previous deportees, which takes approximately five seconds.

Mr. Williams said the program will not disrupt border traffic or trade. In the past year, he said, US-VISIT has had 500 "hits," netting criminals and those travelling on false documents, although no terrorists….

Initially, the United States said that Canadian landed immigrants from Britain, Japan and Europe who do not require visas to visit the United States would be exempt from the program, but it then included all of Canada's several hundred thousand landed immigrants, no matter their country of origin. They must submit to U.S. entry-exit controls at airports by the end of September, and at land border crossings by the end of the year.

Mr. Williams said that of the 358 million crossings at land borders in 2002, about 4.5 million would have been required to register.

The system will store data for all foreign visitors to the United States each year, and keep a record of those who overstay their visas. At least two of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had violated the terms of their visas, according to officials.