U.S. To Abandon Anti-Muslim Visitor Program

WASHINGTON, November 22 (IslamOnline.net) – In a move welcomed by America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, the U.S. administration plans to abandon a visitor-registration program that primarily targets Muslim males from predominantly Muslim countries and drew complaints from civil liberties groups, a leading U.S. newspaper reported Friday, November 21.

The decision of the Department of Homeland Security came after thousands had protested the unexpected arrest of law-abiding people, who were ordered later to be deported and after many department officials have deemed the effort ineffective, said The Washington Post.

The approach was implemented late last year by Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Justice Department, which at the time oversaw the immigration service and border police.

Government sources close to the department's deliberations on the program told the Post a decision to end the system could be announced within days.

"We are continuing to evaluate the effectiveness of the special registration program, to determine if it is meeting efficiency goals and national security needs," Homeland Security spokesman Bill Strassberger said, according to the paper.

Strassberger said a new border-control system set to begin January 5, the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program (U.S. VISIT), will play a similar role in monitoring visitors, the daily said.

The program will use photographs and fingerprints to log entries and exits at major U.S. airports and seaports.

Many officials with the Homeland Security Department view the program as ineffective and a waste of limited resources, saying that the program should have never been implemented, as per the Post.

"The real question all along has been 'What is the purpose of this system?'" Crystal Williams, liaison director for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, was quoted by the paper as saying.

"There has never been a clear answer to that. It looks like a trap. It's a game of gotcha, a real bait-and-switch."

Many Muslims saw the program as another attempt to single them out and remove them as part of the government crackdown that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Foreign Minister of Pakistan has warned that the program could provoke a backlash that would bolster the cause of what he termed “Islamic extremists” in that country.

Nearly 14,000 foreign nationals who showed up to be fingerprinted and photographed for the registration were placed in deportation proceedings, according to the Post's count.

A part of the program requires that those who remain in the country a year later register again within 10 days of the anniversary of their first appointment, the daily added.

But Immigration advocates complain that many registrants were not informed of this "little-noticed" requirement when they first registered and that the Homeland Security Department has poorly publicized the rules since then, according to the paper.

"Most people, especially foreign visitors, don't read the Federal Register when they wake up in the morning," David Leopold, an immigration lawyer in Cleveland, told the Post.

"People are being set up to fail. There is a complete failure to communicate information."

The American Civil Liberties Union complained in an Oct. 30 letter to immigration officials that "we are not aware of any meaningful efforts undertaken by the Department of Homeland Security to publicize these impending deadlines or any of the other requirements that may be applicable to persons who registered," the Post said.

The administration's move, however, was welcomed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

"We would applaud the elimination of the special registration program because it singled out visitors based on their religion and national origin, alienated law-abiding visitors and did little or nothing to improve national security," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.

"Like all Americans, Muslims are concerned about national security and will support any measures that treat all visitors equally."

Awad added that any new screening procedures should not be based on religion, ethnicity or national origin.

CAIR is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 25 regional offices nationwide and in Canada.

Press Releases

Fact Sheet: US-VISIT Program

Pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of State, is responsible for establishing an automated entry/exit system. The Department of Homeland Security has made the US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) program one of its top priorities. The US-VISIT, the Department's automated entry/exit system, will expedite legitimate travelers, while making it more difficult for those intending to do us harm to enter our nation. Specifically, the system will be designed to:

(1) Collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, through a dynamic system, on foreign nationals to determine whether the individual:

Should be prohibited from entering the U.S.;
Can receive, extend, change, or adjust immigration status;
Has overstayed their visa; and/or
Needs special protection/attention (i.e., refugees); and

(2) Enhance traffic flow for individuals entering or exiting the U.S. for legitimate purpose by:

Facilitating travel and commerce;
Respecting the environment;
Strengthening international cooperation; and
Respecting privacy laws and policies

FUNDING

The US-VISIT program has been appropriated $380 million for FY 2003. Appropriations laws require that DHS meet certain conditions concerning submission and approval of an appropriate spending plan by Congress before we may obligate those funds. DHS is in the process of complying with those conditions. $5 million has been allocated for this purpose.

BIOMETRIC CAPABILITIES

Secretary Ridge announced in April that the US-VISIT system will be capable of capturing and reading a biometric identifier at air and sea ports of entry before the end of 2003. We anticipate that the system will be capable of scanning travel documents and taking fingerprints and pictures of foreign nationals, which then could be checked against databases to determine whether the individual should be detained or questioned concerning possible terrorist or criminal involvement.

Biometric identifiers must be consistent with standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization ("ICAO"). The law also requires that air and sea ports of entry have readers in place capable of reading these documents.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology continues to study the use of fingerprints and photographs with travel documents. At a minimum, the US-VISIT system will utilize the existing fingerprint and photographic technology. Other biometric identifiers, such as facial recognition and iris scan, are still being studied.

COLLECTION, USE AND STORAGE OF INFORMATION

The US-VISIT system will be implemented incrementally, but eventually will collect information on the arrival and departure of most foreign nationals such as: date; nationality; classification as an immigrant or non-immigrant; complete name; date of birth; citizenship; sex; passport number and country of issuance; country of residence; U.S. visa number, date and place of issuance (where applicable); alien registration number (where applicable); and complete address while in the United States. The information will be stored in databases maintained by DHS and the Department of State as part of an individual's travel record.

The information in the US-VISIT system will be available to inspectors at ports of entry, special agents in the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), adjudications staff at immigration services offices, U.S. consular offices, and other law enforcement agencies. This information will be made available only to authorized officials for official duties including, identifying non-immigrants who may have overstayed their visas or otherwise violated the terms of their admission, assisting in the adjudication of immigration benefits, and assisting other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies as necessary.

VISA WAIVER COUNTRIES AND THE ADVANCED PASSENGER INFORMATION SYSTEM

The Visa Waiver Permanent Program Act of 2000 directed the collection of records of arrival and departure for every alien who travels by sea or air and who is provided a waiver under the VWP. The Act required that these air and sea VWP records be incorporated into an automated entry exit system. As of October 1, 2002, passenger arrival and departure information on individuals entering and leaving the U.S. under the VWP has been electronically collected from airlines and cruise lines, through the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) system, and no visa waiver may be granted to an alien if the carrier does not submit such data electronically.

APIS sends this data to ICE's Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS) for matching arrivals and departures and reporting purposes. The ADIS sends all arrival information on students to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) which enables ICE to notify the schools that a new foreign student has arrived and should be arriving at their school within 30 days.

Currently, inspectors collect the following information contained on a travel document: name, date of birth, nationality, gender, passport number, document number, document type (passport, visa), country of issuance. In addition, APIS collects carrier information such as flight number, airport of departure and other data.

THE NATIONAL SECURITY ENTRY EXIT REGISTRATION SYSTEM ("NSEERS")

NSEERS was a pilot project focusing on a smaller segment of the nonimmigrant alien population deemed to be of risk to national security. Inspectors at ports of entry have the discretion, based on national security criteria and intelligence reports, to refer an individual from any country to a more detailed secondary inspection. Also, under NSEERS, males born on or before November 15, 1986, and who are nationals of designated countries, were required to register at a local district immigration office. The process included an interview by an immigration inspector or adjudicator and the collection of fingerprints and a photograph.

When the US-VISIT system is fully implemented, it will provide the information necessary to account for nearly all temporary foreign visitors in the United States. Any remaining elements of NSEERS, such as port of entry arrival registration, will become part of the US-VISIT system.

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