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Posted on 06/05/2002 1:06:38 PM PDT by in the Arena
U.S. Unveils Fingerprint Plan, Angers Arab Groups
Wed Jun 5, 3:27 PM ET
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) said on Wednesday as many as 100,000 visitors a year will be fingerprinted, photographed and registered in an anti-terrorism effort that has outraged Arab and immigration groups who say Middle Eastern men will be targeted.
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"Today I am announcing the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System," Ashcroft said. "This system will expand substantially America's scrutiny of those foreign visitors who may pose a national security concern and enter our country. And it will provide a vital line of defense in the war against terrorism."
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), Ashcroft said.
All 19 hijackers entered the country on valid visas but several stayed beyond the expiration date.
Ashcroft's announcement drew instant condemnation.
The plan "smacks of the sort of tactics" used by totalitarian regimes like Iraq, said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.
"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," he said.
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.
The American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) criticized Ashcroft's latest measures as "discriminatory" and likely ineffective.
"The Bush administration is, step by step, isolating Muslim and Arab communities both in the eyes of the government and the American people," said Timothy Edgar of the ACLU. "This latest move needs to be seen in the larger context of all the actions targeted at people of Middle Eastern descent since Sept. 11."
LATEST COUNTERTERROR PLAN
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 from civil liberties groups and others. 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, officials said. They said the program was aimed at men.
The same approach was used by Ashcroft as part of the counterterrorism program announced in March to question an additional 3,000 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.
Admin please remove this thread...
If you don't like the requirement then stay the fu** home. America will do just fine without your sorry as*es, as we has a vast amount of whiners already living here.
Tough goat cheese, Osama.
If you don't like it, you are WELCOME to LEAVE. TODAY.
Bad idea. You may have noticed some female homicide bombers in Palestine recently ....
That's a firm. Last I checked, 19 of 19 9-11 jackers were non-U.S. national, Middle Eastern men. Time to stop multiple-entry visas and other tickets to mayhem. Fool us once, shame on them. Fool us twice, shame on us.
Well, if they are too galled, they can go someplace else where they won't be fingerprinted and photographed. BTW, I think it's discriminatory to only focus on middle-eastern men too, they should also fingerprint and photograph the women.
I am still waiting for their leaders to do this. It should have happened on September 12.
It's about time. Good work Mr. Ashcroft. This idea would have prevented 9/11 back in 1993 if Clinton were an adult president. Never count on an oversexed teen to do a real mans job.
After the environmental report flap this makes my heart glad. Hopefully this is a precurser of more practical prevention measures... I hate to sound like an isolationist but if (when, according to some) we get burned by a portable nuke the libs will start to assimilate things in the proper perspective...
God bless and keep the Union!
They did that themselves when they said kill the infedels- meaning us.
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