This week the Justice Department announced that the INS would begin fingerprinting and photographing nonimmigrants from designated countries on September 11th, the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington DC. After a 20-day trial period, when the system, the National Security Entry-Exit System, will be used at only a few ports, it will be expanded to cover all US entry points.
The new rules will apply to all entrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria, as well as any individual designated by the State Department as a heightened security risk. INS inspectors at ports of entry will also be allowed to make determinations that applicants for entry should be subjected to the new procedures, regardless of their country of origin. Additional countries can be designated by the Attorney General. The fingerprints and photographs taken will be compared to a database of criminals and terrorists.
In addition to photographs and fingerprints, people designated under this rule will be required to register with their local INS office. They must appear at the appropriate local INS office within 30 to 40 days of their arrival and provide documentation that they are complying with the terms of their visa. For example, if they are here as employees, they must provide evidence of that employment; students must provide evidence that they are attending classes. They must also provide their current address. They must reregister each year, within 10 days of the anniversary of their arrival, and notify the INS of any change of address. When they depart the US, they must report to an INS official at the port for a departure inspection. Failure to do so will render the person inadmissible to the US.
These rules may also be extended to people already in the US if the Attorney General chooses to do so. Also, individuals subject to these requirements may apply to the INS to be exempted from them.
According to Attorney General John Ashcroft, the new program will improve US national security, and prevent many of the errors and problems that allowed September 11th to occur. Others, however, dispute these claims. The primary criticism is that the program amounts to little more than profiling on the basis of national origin, and will do little to improve security while targeting innocent visitors. Some even wonder whether the ultimate goal is not to reduce the number of people coming to the US from the Middle East. The INS has vehemently denied any such intention, and maintains that the decision to subject someone to additional scrutiny will be based on intelligence information only.
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