Biometric Exit Procedures has began at Two U.S. Airports for Departing Non-U.S. Citizens

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has began collecting biometrics-digital fingerprints-from non-U.S. citizens departing the United States as part of a pilot program at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County
Airport.

Non-U.S. citizens leaving the United States from Detroit and Atlanta airports should expect to have their biometrics collected before boarding their flights. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers will collect biometrics at the boarding gate from non-U.S. citizens departing from Detroit; U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers will collect biometrics at security checkpoints from non-U.S. citizens departing from Atlanta. These pilots are expected to continue through early July.

US-VISIT plans to begin implementing new biometric exit procedures based on these pilots for non-U.S. citizens departing the United States by air within the next year.

Non-U.S. citizens departing the United States from all other ports of entry will continue to follow current exit procedures, which require travelers to return their paper Form I-94 (Arrival-Departure Record) or Form I-94W (for Visa Waiver Program travelers) to an airline or ship representative.

Green Card Holders Now May be Required to Provide Fingerprints or Other Biometrics

The new rule that came into effect on January 18, 2009, requires that nearly all foreign citizens provide biometrics (e.g., finger scans and photographs).   The categories of foreign citizens include:

·         US lawful permanent residents (LPRs), that is, “green-card holders”
·         Foreign citizens seeking admission on immigrant visas (this includes all family-based immigration and EB-1 to EB-5 categories)
·         Refugees and Asylees
·         Foreign citizens paroled into the United States
·         Certain Canadian citizens who receive a Form I-94 at inspection or who require a waiver of inadmissibility

For more detailed information – see, our attorney, Hanishi Ali’s  article featured in New England Ethinc News:

http://www.ethnicnewz.org/en/green-card-holders-not-just-tourists-now-may-be-required-provide-fingerprints-or-other-biometrics

Bush Administration’s Proposed Plan to Collect 1.2 Million DNA Samples from Federal Detainees

The Bush Administration plans to implement a controversial plan to collect DNA samples from federal detainees starting Dec. 31 2008. It plans to start collecting DNA from an estimated 1.2 million people arrested each year by federal agents, including hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants detained along the nation’s borders. The DNA samples would then be added to the FBI’s national DNA database, which contains the genetic codes of millions of convicted felons. This change would also affect US Citizens arrested by federal agencies but not necessarily convicted of crimes. 

Although proponents of the program say the increase in federal DNA collection would aid law enforcement agents to solve crimes more quickly and efficiently, particularly those involving illegal immigrants, advocacy organizations have questioned the legality and fairness of collecting and storing people’s unique genetic makeup when they are merely under suspicion of a crime or immigration violation.

It should be noted that the regulation does not properly address the implications for people detained at the borders who have legitimate claims to asylum or later are granted legal resident status or for that matter how it aims to remove the stored DNA from the database where the person is no longer under suspicon or there is no resulting conviction. 

Further not only will there be a dramatic increase in the collection of DNA that could potentially swamp the FBI’s DNA laboratory but it may also be cost prohibitive, with no funding so far for the additional DNA collection and a price tag of $37.50 per person for collection and processing. With an estimated increase of 1.2 million samples, annually, that would mean a potential cost of collecting DNA would be about $45 million!