Posted on 06/22/2008 6:08:16 AM PDT by kellynla
The airline industry and embassies of 34 countries, including the members of the European Union, are urging the U.S. government to withdraw a plan that would require airlines and cruise lines to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the United States, starting in August 2009.
Their opposition could trigger a battle with Congress and the Bush administration, which want the new plan established quickly.
Airlines said the change would cost the industry $12.3 billion over 10 years, not $3.5 billion as the Department of Homeland Security estimated in unveiling the proposal in April. Representatives of the nations affected said it is the duty of the U.S. government, not private companies, to enforce immigration and border security laws, and they raised privacy concerns about companies collecting fingerprints.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Go to England and see if you can exit Heathrow or Gatwick without having you picture taken.
If you’re getting on a flight out of Heathrow or Gawick, you’re getting your picture taken.
I don’t think this is a job for the airlines. Should be handled by Immigration/Homeland Security.
The airlines want no extra cost put upon them. The truth is that TSA or Homeland Security ought to be the ones running this and the cost straight out of DC...not the passengers. These are the guys who want this massive database....so let them pay for it. The guy who buys the ticket shouldn’t end up paying for finger-printing every single time he walks through the gate.
It’s stupid anyhow. You want to catch the bad guys coming IN, BEFORE they blow up things; not afterwards when they’re flipping you the bird on the way to catch a cab.
I was thinking the same thing. It’s the incoming that I am worried about, not the guys leaving.
Planners, Financiers, Cell Leaders and “Significant others” -— often leave the “scene of the crime” days before the “action”...
It would be good to know the movements of all potential “suspects”......both coming and going.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.