BlueChair is going to leave his dirty thumbprints

[BlueChair]

That's right... I'm going to leave my dirty thumbprints all over your country. What the hell is this shit?

It's hard to believe that people in Europe can travel freely from country to country without a passport. Meanwhile, the US is considering every other country a potential threat to their security.

U.S. to screen Canadians
New security rules affect tens of thousands with work visas
Fingerprinting, photos called massive invasion of privacy


TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON—Tens of thousands of Canadians living in the United States will be fingerprinted and photographed when they re-enter this country under a sweeping new anti-terrorism program begun yesterday by the Bush administration.

Critics have charged the Department of Homeland Security with a massive invasion of privacy under the program, known as the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT), which began at 115 American airports and 14 seaports yesterday.

Initially an estimated 26 million foreign visitors will be checked by the program, but the number will rise when it is extended to land crossings at the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico by the end of this year.

Under the new rules, travellers press their index fingers on to an inkless scanner and then have their photograph taken as they make their way through customs. The program allows U.S. customs officials to check passengers instantly against terrorist watch lists and a national criminal database.

While visitors from 27 countries, mostly in western Europe as well as Canada and Australia, are not subject to the program, a source at Homeland Security confirmed last night that the exemption does not extend to Canadians holding U.S. visas allowing them to live and work in the country.

Washington sources, who asked not to be named, first said Canadian visa-holders would be photographed and fingerprinted at the discretion of the customs officer at the point of entry, but later said "anybody who has a visa in their passport will go through US-VISIT.''

That category typically includes Canadian businessmen, entrepreneurs, high-tech workers, entertainers, journalists, their spouses and dependents who have a U.S. residence visa but remain Canadian citizens.

U.S. authorities now will log the complete name, date of birth, citizenship, gender, passport information and American address of all Canadians returning to the United States.

The information will be held by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. State Department, U.S. Immigration and "appropriate federal, state and local law enforcement personnel.''

Homeland Security officials say all information will be protected under the U.S. Privacy Act, but will be held "as long as it is needed.''

The changes came as the United States entered a third consecutive week on high alert for terrorism, including especially tight security involving foreign flights. Fourteen flights on British Airways, Aeromexico and Air France have been cancelled or delayed since New Year's Eve because of security fears, Associated Press reports.

In a pilot program at Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Ga., that preceded yesterday's nationwide implementation, authorities turned up 21 people on the FBI's criminal watch list for such crimes as drug offences, rape and visa fraud.

Homeland Security spokesperson Bill Strassberger said that once screeners become proficient, the extra security will take 10 to 15 seconds per person.

Airport officials and passengers reported little fuss over the security checks, and many said they did not mind the extra steps if it meant safer skies.

"I was a bit apprehensive about it initially, but it was fairly simple," said Kavita Ramchandra, 28, who travelled from Bombay to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. She said the process took less than two minutes.

Other passengers reported only minor delays.

"Legitimate travellers who fall into America's open arms should know that they have nothing to fear in this new system,'' Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in introducing the program in Atlanta.

"Information gathered will be kept strictly to authorized officials on a need-to-know basis and will be governed by the Privacy Act at all times.

"In fact, US-VISIT actually adds a layer of privacy for visitors by protecting them from identity theft, or lost or stolen travel documents," Ridge said.

"However, US-VISIT will not be kind to those who think that privacy can hide their hate or their intention to harm.''

The American Civil Liberties Union called the program a "huge privacy violation waiting to happen.''

"The privacy provisions raise more questions than they answer,'' said Timothy Edgar, legislative counsel for the ACLU.

"This Big Brother system at the border can be expanded to other users and could be subject to potential misuse.''

The program will grow massively by the end of 2004 when it is up and running at all Canadian and Mexican border crossings.

Eventually, all visa-holders will go through a self-serve kiosk to leave the country. A pilot project to test that system has just begun at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

While most arriving passengers acquiesced to the new rules with an understanding shrug yesterday, that understanding did not extend to at least one U.S. ally.

Brazil asked to be taken off the list and when that didn't happen, they instituted their own program and began fingerprinting and photographing Americans arriving in Brazil.

The move came in response to a ruling by a Brazilian federal judge who likened the move to the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi regime.

In Rio de Janeiro, U.S. citizens waited for hours yesterday to be photographed and fingerprinted, Associated Press reports.

The U.S. State Department, publicly at least, would not respond to the Brazilian move.

"As far as what other countries are doing, obviously the measures they take for their security are their decision and we wouldn't want to second-guess that,'' said department spokesperson Adam Ereli. "We certainly respect the principle of reciprocity.''

The U.S. move is an offshoot of the oft-criticized USA Patriot Act passed by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

It came into place on a day when the CIA confirmed that an audio tape released Sunday by the news agency Al Jazeera was the voice Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, calling for a holy war against Americans.

Jan. 6, 2004. 06:20 AM, The Toronto Star

[Tim(e)]

And here I was thinking that the US visa application question along the lines of "do you plan to be involved in any criminal activities on your visit to the United States of America" would have been enough to trip up those planning to perform acts of terrorism

[laughingcrow]

I suppose it makes sense to know who's coming in, seeing as that is the easy way in to the US....I can see the logic in it.

But, if you were that bothered about doing a terrorist attack in the U.S surely you wouldn't be that bothered about getting in a rowing boat, or crossing over the border where there's no checks....

[LessThanZero]

He who fears has not been made perfect in love.

[bobster]

Bluechair can correct me on this, but I didn't some of the 9/11 hijackers come in through Canada?

I'm actually of two minds on this...basically I think it's okay to keep tabs on the border a bit under current circumstances, but like the ACLU guy said, there's potential for misuse and the whole thing needs to be watched carefully before Tom Ridge, John Ashcroft and the other @#$#$# bozos try pulling something.

It's kind of a separate issue, but for years now -- going back to the Reagan Admin, the U.S. has arbirtrarily kept out musicians from other countries -- and, whenever I hear about this happening, they're invariably leftist musicians, or from leftist/unfriendly countries.

[Misha]

Blue,

I wouldn't worry, one of two things is going to happen...

1. They will lose it immediately.

2. They will start a FBI file on you and tap your phones and follow you around everywhere.

Either way....it don't matter.

They (The Homeland Security Monsters) are actually checking protest photographs to check up on people. I saved them some time and emailed the chowderheads and told them where I was when I protested, what I did and where they could find me now. Thought I could save some serious taxpayer money so that we could send it off out of the country to tyrannically control others while killing off our soldiers. Why keep it here?

Here's to everyone having an FBI file!!! Think of the company I keep!!!!

I guess losing 50 pounds and trying out for the CIA is out now.....

[miss buenos aires]

The funny thing, bobster, is that the hijackers from September 11th, for the most part, were all in the country legally; it's not like they snuck in. Fingerprinting them at the border would not have stopped anything.

[BlueChair]

Exactly.

Anyway, apparently the article was misleading... Canadian citizens still don't even need a passport to get into the US, nor will they be fingerprinted. It's primarily just people who hold visas in Canada that want to travel to the US.

[bobster]

The funny thing, bobster, is that the hijackers from September 11th, for the most part, were all in the country legally; it's not like they snuck in. Fingerprinting them at the border would not have stopped anything.

Yes, though I think some of them first came to Canada, established residency there, then came here -- but I'm fuzzy enough on the details that I probably shouldn't even be mentioning it. And your point is important. That's why this whole business with California rightwingers (and even some "moderates") caterwhauling about the proposed drivers' license thing is such a big joke. Real criminals -- paritcularly serious terrorists -- are able to get around these piddling matters one way or another. You're actually better off not treating whole categories of people as criminals since, if there are not given reason to fear the U.S. government, might actually provide information that could lead to getting any actual "bad guys."

[RedShoes]

With any luck Bush will be out within a year, along with most of these ridiculous new policies.

*crosses fingers*