DHS To Grab Biometric Data From Green Card Holders

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Nextgov: "The Homeland Security Department has announced plans to expand its biometric data collection program to include foreign permanent residents and refugees. Almost all noncitizens will be required to provide digital fingerprints and a photograph upon entry into the United States as of Jan. 18. A notice (PDF) in Friday's Federal Register said expansion of the US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (US VISIT) will include 'nearly all aliens,' except Canadian citizens on brief visits. Those categories include permanent residents with green cards, individuals seeking to enter on immigrant visas, and potential refugees. The US VISIT program was developed after the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attacks to collect fingerprints from foreign visitors and run them against the FBI's terrorist watch list and other criminal databases. Another phase of the project, to develop an exit system to track foreign nationals leaving the country, has run into repeated setbacks." Reader MirrororriM points out other DHS news that they're thinking about monitoring blogs for information on terrorists.

Comments

Re:US citizens will be next?

[cayenne8]

I love this quote from the article : "Almost all non-citizens will be required to provide digital fingerprints and a photograph upon entry into the United States as of Jan. 18. "

I guess the 'small' exception to this are the 'few' illegal alien, non-citizens coming in periodically from the southern border.

So, if you want to avoid HS survellience, just come across the border along TX, AZ, CA.....and don't register. It has worked so far, I doubt they'll be changing that anytime soon....

Does this kind of program even work?

[matchlight]

Every time I read about this kind of thing... more surveillance, finger printing, suspicionless checkpoints, etc, etc...

I think two things:

1. WTF. I'm not a crimial, and the majority of people aren't either and yet we're all subjected to this kind of BS.

2. Does it even work? Why are countries making all of these efforts and the citizens are the last to hear about it.

Will biometrics really make a difference at the borders? The first thing I think of are ways that a person could get around this .. and you know the US border is still pretty open.

By water or land people cross the borders all the time.

This all started with 9/11 by people who were in the country legally... so ya, this just doesn't make any sense to me and makes me more frustrated with our governments.

Re:US citizens will be next?

[theshowmecanuck]

I find it hard to understand why many Americans don't understand why people in the world are sick and tired of America, and have lost most of their respect for the country. Especially as this article demonstrates, they are now treating many of their friends as criminals and enemies. After years of living and working in the U.S. I no longer want to have anything to do with the place, especially after being made to feel like a criminal the last time I went down there. I know... some nutbar patriot will yell at me "so stay the f**k out blah blah blah"... this is another problem with many down there. Patriotism blinds people too much to see the flaws of the current mindset there. A good example is how after the ridiculous Iraq war started, people would label others unpatriotic if you voiced your objection to it. Now of course, most in the U.S. realize this was a bad war entered into by a lie, poorly executed, poorly managed, and a waste of people's lives. But at the time, even the media lost their objectivity. Anyway, the reasons I feel like I do should be considered a symptom of the current state of affairs in the U.S. and a cause of concern. There are a lot of people outside of the U.S. that I talk to that don't like the U.S. I used to always take the side of the U.S. in conversations with them. I like the place. I liked the place. I now find it very difficult to side with America's point of view and actions, and don't side with America nearly as much in conversations with people. It no longer welcomes people... it eyes them with distrust and makes you feel like an outsider when you arrive at the border (hi welcome to America... foreigner... smile for the camera, give me your fingers). Distrust is only marginally this side of outright dislike and xenophobia. America, get some help, take off the tinfoil hat.