Before an overseas traveler is issued a visa
by a U.S. consular office, the traveler is interviewed by a
consular affairs officer. Information is gathered in the interview
and fed into a computerized database.
When the traveler
arrives in the U.S., a Customs and Border Protection officer
reviews the traveler's documents and matches it with the database
to ensure that the traveler is the same person who was issued the
visa.
The CBP officer then
collects biometric data from the traveler in the form of digital
fingerprints and a photograph.
It is all part of a
security program called US-VISIT, which stands for U.S. Visitor and
Immigration Status Indicator Technology.
Travelers entering
the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program, which permits citizens from
certain countries to enter the U.S. for up to 90 days without a
visa, are also subject to the biometric requirements.
The Department of
Homeland Security launched the system in 2004, and it is now
operational in 116 airports, 15 seaports and 154 land border points
of entry.
Initially, only two
digital fingerprints were taken, but in November 2007, the DHS
upgraded the system to collect all 10 fingerprints, which that
agency said reduces misidentifications.
While the entry
system of US-VISIT has been up and running for years, executing the
exit portion of the program has proven problematic, prompting the
House Homeland Security Committee to dub it the country's
"unfinished welcome mat."
"It is one of our
greatest challenges, because we don't have the infrastructure in
place, [where] officers are set up to stamp passports when people
are leaving the country," said DHS spokeswoman Kimberly
Weissman.
That said, there is
an exit system of sorts in place.
Currently, departing
foreign visitors turn in their I-94, the form that the officer gave
them when they entered the U.S, Weissman said.
However, the
paper-based exit system is largely unreliable, since there is
nothing to compel travelers to return the form as they leave the
U.S.
"Also, the I-94 is
not done on the land border," Weissman said. "So if you fly here
and then leave from a land border, there is no way to know, as
well."
The DHS is looking to
the airlines for a solution, suggesting that the biometric data
collection for departing travelers be incorporated into the
check-in process.
The airlines have
balked at the idea.
"Security is an
inherent government function," a representative for the Air
Transport Association said. "We are in the business of transporting
passengers."
The Travel Industry
Association has also expressed misgivings about injecting a
government function into the check-in process.
Meanwhile, the
Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, has
expressed doubts that the DHS will be able to develop an exit
solution, despite having invested $1.3 billion in
US-VISIT.
The DHS, however, is
still aiming to launch an exit system this year, and it seems
likely that the airlines will be part of it.
"There may be an
airline that might consider partnering with us in the early stages
as part of a pilot program," Weissman said. "We did that when we
first rolled out US-VISIT. Delta Air Lines worked with us in
Atlanta."
But even if the DHS
is able to develop the system, the TIA said the government had not
done enough to explain US-VISIT to arriving travelers and why the
information was being requested.
Richard Webster, the
TIA's senior vice president of government affairs, said the
government must do more than digitally fingerprint and photograph
inbound visitors.
"We need to tell
people that we actually want them to come here," he said. "That's
the element that's missing now."
To contact the
reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to[email protected].
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" Fortress America
" Making sense of the alphabet soup of U.S. security
programs