Posted on 03/05/2004 2:38:10 PM PST by Pa' fuera
More than 10 million mexicans with border crossing cards will not be processed when they enter the United States for visits of less that 72 hours or visits that do not extend beyond the 40 kilometer border region, announces Homeland Security under-secretary Asa Hutchinson.
Giving testimony before the Government Reform Comitte in the House of Representatives, Hutchinson specified that BCC (Border Crossing Card) holders will be photographed and fingerprinted, like other visitors, if they spend more than 72 hours in the US or travel beyond the 25-mile border region.
“The BCC already incorporates the biographic and biometric data of the visitor, he added, by warning that the card carrier is using it in a manner different from its purpose.”
“Those carriers who use the card as a visa by traveling beyond the border region and stay longer than 3 days in the US – will be processed (through US Visit) in the Secondary Inspection area, like other visitors are”, explained Hutchinson.
If the use of the BCC is as a local pass, the holder will not be processed.
The US Visit program, which began to function last year, and was installed in 115 airports and 14 ports on January 5, gathers the biometric data of visitors to the US to verify their identity and compares the data on the visa with the data integrated into a system that eventually will house millions of foreign visitors’ photos and fingerprints.
Hutchison stated that there are already numerous security measures in place on both the Canadian and Mexican borders.
The system was put into place as a consequence of the September 11 terrorist attacks, when extremist islamics who had overstayed their visas hijacked four passenger aircraft and were able to crash three of them into the twin towers of New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Some three thousand people died in the attacks.
The exemption is considered as a gesture to president Vicente Fox, who this weekend will visit President Bush in his Crawford, Texas ranch. It is also seen as a measure to facilitate trans-border commerce.
The Border Crossing Cards are normally given to people who live in the border zone once a criminal background check has been performed and after the individual has been interviewed and screened by State Department personnel.
The majority have businesses or jobs or need to make quick visits to the US side of the border.
Hutchison also informed that Homeland Security will implement pilot programs this year at the 50 busiest cross-border locations, using machine readers of the biometric information contained on BCCs and visas. These programs have the objective of improving border administration and to expedite the crossing of the BCC and biometric visa holders.
Not true.
He announced his first plan about ten days ago.
He's going to tax the remittances that his poor send back to Mexico electronically.
He didn't say what he was going to do with the new revenue however. My guess is that he'll start out by donating some of it to Bush's reelection campaign.
Good point.
Right now the battleground state is California. If it falls the whole Southwest will not be far behind. Utah would be next on their list.
Neither conservatives nor liberals can afford to blindly support an administration that appears to be doing more to achieve reelection than to protect a state from foreign invasion, literally.
For many this is an academic problem because they don't live in California. For California, immigration regulation and stopping the Mexican invasion are essential to its economic survival. Today 1/3 of the state's bloated budget is directed toward the consequences of illegal immigration. If immigration isn't regulated, no governor, neither liberal or conservative can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Yes they are. The major overstayers are the short term travelers.
No, Canadians have free access to the US. No passport needed. No Visa needed. Just proof of Canadian citizenship and your in for six months or as long as you want.
Correct, but that is not what the system (US-VISIT) is about.
Thanks, but that's not what I was talking about. I was wondering whether or not Canada was going to be part of FTAA and be a part of Fox's grand plan for the Americas.
IMO, yes.
(Maybe I should start reading some of the online Canadian newwspapers.)
Just ONE??
I just had a poster just inform me: "The base is more than just conservatives. Things ain't going to happen just to suit you or just to suit conservatives."
If Dubya & Co. are thinking along these lines, he's got a REAL good chance of p*ssing away the Presidency -- JUST like his father did.
Think of it as a 'kinder, gentler' form of 'ethnic cleansing.'
Great analysis!
Yes. It’s easier to deport them, then to charge them with a real crime.
No, but then again, I have not been following it.
Well at the rate the ol' boy is passing big government initiatives it's quite clear he doesn't care about any conservatives, except those moderate Democrats that call themselves 'conservative'.
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