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Posted on 06/05/2002 12:14:17 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outraging Arab and immigration groups, the U.S. government will require as many as 100,000 visitors a year -- most of them Middle Eastern men -- to be fingerprinted, photographed and registered in an effort to monitor possible terrorists, officials said on Wednesday.
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"This is about terrorist tracking," one official said. "It is one way to make sure we are doing everything we can to monitor possible terrorists."
The change was prompted by concern about the lack of records on tourists, students and other foreign visitors after the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites), the officials said.
The plan drew instant condemnation.
"Hundreds of thousands of people are going to have to register with the authorities. I just find it galling. It will alienate a lot of people," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.
'SMACKS OF TOTALITARIAN TACTICS'
The plan "smacks of the sort of tactics" used by totalitarian regimes like Iraq, he said. "It's contrary to everything we know, both pre- and post-Sept. 11, about how to track terrorists."
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, a policy group, agreed, saying the change would add to an already overburdened process and would fail to help improve security.
He said it was adopted despite concerns from the State Department and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. He called it a political initiative designed to send the message the administration was "doing something" about terrorism.
U.S. officials acknowledged there would be complaints the plan amounted to a form of profiling because it targeted mainly Middle Eastern men, but said the measure was necessary after the Sept. 11 attacks.
It was the latest counterterrorism plan from Ashcroft to spark criticism. Last week, he gave the FBI (news - web sites) broad new powers to spy domestically at places like mosques and political rallies.
Under rules adopted in 1998, only visitors from Iraq, Iran, Libya and Sudan had to go through the process that includes registering with federal authorities, photographing and fingerprinting.
The new plan would expanded the scrutiny to countries identified as having the highest risk for terrorism. The officials declined to identify the nations, but acknowledged it was mainly Middle Eastern countries.
The officials estimated the change would affect about 100,000 visitors to the United States each year.
Not all visitors from the countries would have to register, the officials said. They said the program was aimed at males.
The same approach was used by Ashcroft as part of the counterterrorism program announced in March to question 3,000 more foreign nationals who recently came to this country, most of whom came from Middle Eastern nations.
The initial list for questioning in November totaled about 5,000 men, aged 18 to 33, who entered the United States on non-immigrant visas after Jan. 1, 2000, and have passports from countries where Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network has been present or active.
Justice Department proposes new visa restrictions on visitors from Muslim nations -AP Breaking News
SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer
(06-05) 12:10 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department proposed new anti-terrorism visa regulations Wednesday to subject tens of thousands of visitors to heavier scrutiny. Officials said that the new measures, requiring visi...
Bottom line is: SECURE THE BORDERS !!!
What the American Civil Liberties Union fails to understand is that there are no civil liberties to defend if terrorists are permitted to freely enter and travel in our country. Frankly, this step should have been taken months ago...
GIANT loophole.
This is stupid.
Finally Reuters has turned the lefties' favorite self-reference - "outrage" - into a verb.
But still they cannot say "terrorist."
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