The 2001 Border Security Act requires the citizens of 27 countries who travel to the US to have passports with biometric data by October 26, 2004.  The citizens of countries that do not meet the deadline will have to apply for visas.  Because of this, it is predicted that the State Department will be forced to process an additional five million visa applications.  This will mean that the State Department will have to hire and train additional personnel to deal with the increase in visa applications.

Another problem posed by the Act is that it is unclear whether countries will use different forms of biometric data or there will be one international standard.  If data does differ from one country to the next, each US port of entry might need several passport reader systems.

State Department and Homeland Security officials are lobbying lawmakers to extend the deadline for countries to include the biometric data.  To date, two countries, Great Britain and Japan, have told the US that they will comply by late 2005.  Other countries have said they cannot comply until 2006.

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Attiqullah Sayed Ahmadi, an Afghan immigrant, plead guilty in federal court that he possessed weapons and lied about his background during his naturalization proceedings.  Ahmadi also allegedly has ties to terrorists.

Ahmadi’s plea agreement will strip him of his US citizenship.  He is expected to serve nine months in prison, after which, he will face denaturalization and deportation proceedings.

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Customs and Border Patrol agents have begun checking the documents of airline passengers traveling from the US to Canada, looking for individuals who have overstayed their visas in the US at certain airports.  So far, this practice is known to have been conducted in Cleveland, OH and Blaine, WA.

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Twenty-one illegal immigrants were arrested in Palmer Township, Pennsylvania.  The immigrants pled guilty on Monday to charges of identity theft and records tampering.  According to the police, they used fake or stolen Social Security cards in order to obtain employment. 

The immigrants were employees of Pallet Express, who at the present time has not been charged with knowingly hiring illegal workers under federal law.  The immigrants will be transferred to the custody of the US Bureau of Immigration and Citizenship Services before they are deported.

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US Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX) has asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to seek the death penalty in the trial of Tyrone Williams of Schenectady, NY.  Williams is on trial for the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants who died while being smuggled into the US.  Over 74 illegal immigrants were crowded in the sealed tractor-trailer.

According to Brady, the use of the death penalty in this case would send the massage that the US “won’t stand for this type of criminal activity and reckless disregard for life anymore and those that do engage willfully in this type of activity will receive the ultimate punishment if proven guilty.” 

If the Attorney General does seek the death penalty, it will be the first time for an immigrant smuggling case.

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Last week a Border Patrol special unit rescued Ricardo Alberto Streich, a 43-year-old undocumented immigrant from Argentina, after a smuggler abandoned him in the desert of Southern New Mexico.  The search for Streich began after agents caught a group of 11 undocumented immigrants 30 miles northwest of Columbus, New Mexico and one of them said a heavyset member of the migrant group couldn’t keep up and had been left behind. 

After Streich was discovered, it was determined that he had been left for two days in the cold conditions of the desert, but wouldn’t stop traveling until he reached his Provo, Utah destination.  He paid the smuggler $2,500 for his services.