Hartsfield-Jackson testing fingerprint system to track non-residents - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

gault-rickettsias.blogspot.com
officials announced Monday that and are on the cuttin g edge of a new trial run for biometric trackinvgof non-Americans leaving the United The program is designed to root out fraudulenft use of travel documents and help guarrd non-residents from identity theft, DHS official s said. The program was launched May 28at Hartsfield-Jacksonb and through Monday had collected fingerprintz of 3,100 foreign passengers leaving the country. “Collectingv biometrics allows us to determins faster and more accurately whether citizens have departed the United States on time or remaines in thecountry illegally,” DHS Secretary Janetg Napolitano said in a statement.
Since 2004, the federal governmeng has collected fingerprints and photographsa ofmost non-U.S. residents entering the U.S. at air and seaportes or applying for visas to entetrthe country. The program, callec US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigrant StatuwsIndicator Technology), has resulted in the arrest of thousandsd of criminals and the detectiobn of thousands of non-residents in violation of theifr visas, officials said. The federal governmen tried an exit trackinvg system trial severalyears ago, but the processe proved unworkable. The program in Atlanta checks the fingerprintsof non-resident s at the main checkpoint.
In Detroit, Customsa and Border Protection agents stationed at airport gatex checkbiometric data. “Unlike names and datee of birth, biometric data is unique and almostt impossibleto forge,” said US VISITf Director Robert Mocney. Data from the two testds will be analyzed to determine whether nationwide tracking of non-residents will be performed at securitu checkpoints or at airport gates. Airlinez have protested the gate proposal, stating it could causde unnecessary delays and would be costlyto implement.
Mocne said Homeland Security does not want delays atsecurityy checkpoints, either, and thus far the Atlanta triao has had no significang impact on wait times at Hartsfield-Jackson. He noteed the trial is being conducteed during the busy summer travel The Detroit trial has also workee withina 35-minute aircraft turnaround window mandated by air carriers, he The pilot program ends July 2. TSA and Homeland Securituy hope to evaluate the data by the end of with official rulemaking to follow inMarch 2010. Final deployment nationwide could come sometimein 2011.