[Marine Inspector]

Are you then making a case that there should be no identification required at the border? Somebody says they're a US citizen and you'd just take their word for it?

Absolutely not.

CBP has no authority to arbitrarily fingerprint and photograph US Citizens. As far as I know, no law enforcement agency does.

This was not about identifying who they were. That is done by checking names and DOB’s in the computer and verifying documents.

This was about keeping tabs on them.

[FreeReign]

This was not about identifying who they were. That is done by checking names and DOB’s in the computer and verifying documents.

What documentation was checked? Some documents can be forged -- fingerprints can't.

From the information I've see so far, this is indeed about identifying who they are.

[Ramius]

I'm not quite there on how taking somebody's picture violates their rights or oppresses them in any way.

WRT being muslim and (I gather) between the ages of 18 to 30... this isn't mere profiling. It's a description of the suspect. IMHO it would be irresponsible to NOT give them a little extra attention. It doesn't mean that innocent muslims can't freely travel. But if they don't understand why they get a few extra questions and get their picture taken, then maybe they should open a newspaper once in a while.

For starters... what was the curricula of the conference? I'd ask about that.