WASHINGTON -- The Department of Homeland Security said it will
launch a border-security initiative that includes gathering data on
travelers entering the U.S. in an effort establishes tighter
controls over the nation's borders.
The initiative, called the US-VISIT (United States Visitor and
Immigrant Status Indicator Technology), will be implement
incrementally, according to the DHS, but ultimately will establish
an automated entry/exit system.
Congress mandated the creation of the system when it passed the
Homeland Security Act of 2002. The law requires the DHS to develop
the system in cooperation with the State Department.
"Under US VISIT, we will eventually have information on our
visitors -- collected at our consular officers far from our borders
-- that will confirm identity, measure security risks and assess
the legitimacy of travel of visitors to the U.S.," said DHS under
secretary Asa Hutchinson, during a speech here Monday at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies.
Hutchinson also was slated to meet today with representatives of
the National Business Travel Association, who were in Washington to
lobby Congress to support several tourism issues.
As part of the system, Hutchinson said, the DHS would require
visitor visas to include "biometric features that will enable us to
identify the visitors."
Under a congressional mandate, the biometrics features have to
be incorporated into visitor visas by Oct. 26, 2004.
Collecting more detailed information on visitors, generally
while they are still in their country of origin would, according to
the DHS, allow the agency to determine whether they should
prohibited from entering the U.S.
Information collected would include, for instance, nationality,
classification as an immigrant or non-immigrant, complete name,
date of birth, U.S. visa number, and complete address while in the
United States, the DHS said.
The data would also aid the DHS in tracking travelers that
overstay the time permitted by their visitor visa, as well as
expedite the processing of legitimate travelers, according to the
agency.
Still in the developmental stage, DHS said the system is
expected to be "capable of scanning travel documents and taking
fingerprints and pictures of foreign nationals, which then could be
checked against databases to determine whether the individual
should be detained or questioned concerning possible terrorist or
criminal involvement."
Hutchinson said the DHS will also work with the State Department
to encourage Visa Waiver countries--qualifying countries that
participate in a reciprocal program that permits travelers to visit
the U.S. for up to 90 days without a visa--to "use tamper-proof
passports that include biometric identifiers as soon as possible --
and to consider security needs first when issuing them."
Hutchinson added that the DHS also intends to hire 1,700 new
inspectors and "hundreds" of Border Patrol Agents.