[Peace-discuss] Justice Department Proposes Fingerprint Registry for Some Foreign Visitors

[braun at uiuc.edu]

This article from The Chronicle of Higher Education 
(http://chronicle.com) was forwarded to you from: braun at uiuc.edu



  Thursday, June 6, 2002



  Justice Department Proposes Fingerprint Registry for Some
  Foreign Visitors

  By RICHARD MORGAN   
  
  The U.S. Justice Department plans to propose a rule that would
  require the government to begin fingerprinting, photographing,
  and keeping detailed background information on some foreigners
  -- including student-visa holders -- who visit the United
  States, department officials confirmed on Wednesday. The plan,
  which some critics derided as "ethnic profiling," could affect
  20,000 foreign students living in the United States.
  
  The proposed policy would enforce World War II-era laws that
  are already on the books and expand a 1998 federal rule that
  requires visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Syria to be
  photographed and fingerprinted upon arrival. Attorney General
  John Ashcroft explained the proposed policy, known as the
  National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, in a speech
  at the Justice Department on Wednesday.
  
  "In this new war, our enemy's platoons infiltrate our borders,
  quietly blending in with visiting tourists, students, and
  workers," Mr. Ashcroft said. The proposed registration system
  "will expand substantially America's scrutiny of those foreign
  visitors who may pose a national-security concern," he said,
  calling the system "a vital line of defense."
  
  The program is also a response to a Congressional stipulation
  to build a system that tracks all foreign visitors to the
  United States by 2005. Wednesday's announcement begins "the
  crucial first phase" of satisfying that mandate, said Mr.
  Ashcroft.
  
  Under the plan, fingerprint checks -- which Mr. Ashcroft said
  take "only three minutes" -- will be performed along all
  borders and ports of entry. Mr. Ashcroft said that a pilot
  program for such fingerprint scans has proven to be "extremely
  promising," with 67 "hits" per week and 1,400 arrests in the
  past five months.
  
  Periodic registration, beginning when a foreigner stays 30
  days in the United States and continuing at intervals marking
  the anniversary of the first arrival into the country, will
  apply only to foreigners "of elevated national-security
  concern," he said.
  
  Some college officials and lobbyists say they fear that this
  scrutiny will be aimed largely at Muslims and Arab men, though
  Justice Department officials could not confirm those
  suspicions. The only countries officially listed by the U.S.
  State Department as sponsors of terrorism are Cuba, Iran,
  Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria -- although
  unconfirmed reports in The New York Times on Wednesday said
  that added attention would be paid to Muslim nationals from
  other countries, including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
  
  Mr. Ashcroft cited the existence of similarly strict
  registration rules in European nations. In France, according
  to Mr. Ashcroft, long-term visitors must register with the
  government within 7 days of arrival, every 12 months
  thereafter, and whenever they change their address.
  
  So-called "exit controls" are what Mr. Ashcroft called the
  "critical part of the system." Exit controls would involve
  relying on state and local police to find foreigners who
  appear in the FBI's National Crime Information Center, a
  national database of criminals that includes information on
  people considered to be terrorists. The Justice Department's
  Office of Legal Counsel, Mr. Ashcroft said, has agreed that
  such a dependence on nonfederal law-enforcement agencies does
  not infringe on Constitutionally guaranteed states' rights.
  
  Chris Harrington, a spokesman for the University of California
  system, was reticent to comment on the Justice Department's
  plan because of a lack of available details. But he said
  university officials were "a little bit concerned." He listed
  a number of questions to which college officials are seeking
  answers: "Where will the fingerprints be done? Who will do the
  fingerprinting? What kind of security will there be in
  maintaining the prints? How exactly will they be used?"
  
  Mr. Harrington also expressed concern that the plan would "add
  to a backlog in the student-visa system." College
  administrators criticized the Justice Department last month
  because of concerns that its Student and Exchange Visitor
  Information System, or SEVIS, will not be functional by the
  government's deadline of January 30, 2003. (See an article
  from The Chronicle, May 13.)
  
  Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and
  public affairs at the American Council on Education, said that
  federal agencies should focus on SEVIS and the Enhanced Border
  Security and Visa Entry Reform Act (HR 3525), which aims to
  beef up border security by, among other things, adding a
  number of government agents, revamping the visa process, and
  creating a foreign-student monitoring program.
  
  "Anything that diverts them from those broad-based steps needs
  to be looked at very, very carefully," Mr. Hartle said. He
  added: "I'm really surprised, given how many things
  [government officials are] trying to do simultaneously, that
  they will impose such an administratively difficult task that
  will affect such a small number of visitors."
  
  Mr. Hartle, who said that focusing the plan on Muslim and
  Middle Eastern men would amount to "ethnic profiling,"
  estimated that the Justice Department proposal would affect
  100,000 foreigners out of the nation's 35 million visitors a
  year. The American Council on Education expects 20,000
  students to be affected nationally, he said.
  
  "The bottom line is pretty simple: The federal government has
  the ability to do this. Whether or not it's a good thing is
  another matter," he said. "The costs here seem to outweigh the
  benefits by a wide margin."
  

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 Copyright 2002 by The Chronicle of Higher Education