US screening nets 30 criminals

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8362534%255E401,00.html ^

[avalon]

US screening nets 30 criminals From correspondents in Paris January 10, 2004

AMERICA'S controversial foreign visitor screening program has nabbed 30 criminals in its first three days of operation, an official said yesterday.

At the same time, European police pressed their hunt for a suspect who failed to turn up for an Air France flight to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. An Afghan national named only by French security officials as Abdulaye had been booked on the first of the cancelled flights from Paris, but he never checked in. French authorities confirmed the man was being sought but said it was premature to speak of links with the al-Qaeda network.

In Washington, a senior US Homeland Security official said that during the first three days after US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology - or US-VISIT - was installed at 115 US airports, more than 83,000 international passengers had been photographed and fingerprinted.

"Among those we have had 30 criminal hits," Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson said.

Mr Hutchison cited one case, that of a Salvadoran national stopped late yesterday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

"When he presented his travel documents everything seemed fine but the biometric identification sounded a warning," he said.

"Turned out he had used false documents to enter the United States illegally 12 times in the past year and had committed some minor offences."

By 2005, every land, sea and air port of entry to US territory will have the photographic and fingerprinting technology. All US visas and passports will eventually include photos and fingerprints - called "biometric identifiers".

Mr Hutchinson stressed that the system could process arriving travellers in seconds.

Some countries have reacted with annoyance and Brazil responded by introducing similar requirements for all US visitors.

Mr Hutchinson welcomed screening by other countries, but said it should be done "in the name of security, not in the name of retaliation".

Meanwhile, Mr Hutchinson's boss, US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, told the BBC in London that "a stream of intelligence" had pointed to a possible air attack on the US during the Christmas-New Year period.

"It talks about attacks equal to or greater than those that occurred on September 11, talked about these attacks occurring in a time frame that covered our traditional holiday period and it also included reference to aviation," Mr Ridge said.

A global air security alert forced the cancellation of several flights over the past two weeks, including six Air France connections between Paris and Los Angeles on December 24 and 25, and delayed successive flights from London to Washington.

[avalon]

I wonder what the whiny liberals will think about THIS!

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[RippleFire]

bump

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Just excellent news!

[Guillermo]

That we're racist, xenophobic, and violating the rights of Mohammedan terrorists...

[_Jim]

"Turned out he had used false documents to enter the United States illegally 12 times in the past year and had committed some minor offences."

Jay walking, unpaid parking tickets and 45 in a 35 qualify as minor - don't they?

[Tamzee]

By 2005, every land, sea and air port of entry to US territory will have the photographic and fingerprinting technology. All US visas and passports will eventually include photos and fingerprints - called "biometric identifiers".

Excellent :-)

[July 4th]

Awesome! I wonder if any news network will pick this up. NOT!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

"biometric identifiers"

I think photos and fingerprints are normal identifiers, but in the future they will add other technology and use other methods of sorting out the people.

[blam]

Okay by me.

[Tamzee]

Yeehaw, bring it on!

No more changing their names around or buying false ID to sneak around Homeland Security! Biometric Eyeball Identifiers never lie ;-)

[squarebarb]

And now I suspect the terrorists who know they can be identified by these means will try crossing from Mexico in the future.

[HardStarboard]

>>>That we're racist, xenophobic, and violating the rights of Mohammedan terrorists...<<<

Your all right, I like you! Way to go Guillermo! I think I'm a member, but if not, where do I join up?

[TheDon]

Howard Dean: "This does not make America safer."

[Grampa Dave]

More good news, and we ain't seen nothing as to what is coming down the path.

[Grampa Dave]

Bio metrics are being done as they finger print those coming into the states.

So if they try to come in later with a different Id, they will be stopped. Or if someone has stolen ids from those who have had Bio Metric measurement, they will be caught.

[paul51]

This does not make America safer

And it is a distraction from the hunt for OBL

[TheDon]

LOL! Oh yeah, I forgot!