- NEW YORK (Reuters) -- All
visitors from Europe and elsewhere were fingerprinted and photographed
upon arrival at U.S. airports on Thursday as part of a new, heightened
effort by authorities to secure American borders.
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- Travelers arriving from 27 "visa waiver" nations
whose citizens don't need visas for short visits had to undergo two digital
index-finger scans and have their photographs taken before clearing immigration
portals.
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- The new procedures apply to nearly two dozen European
countries such as Britain, France and Germany as well as Australia, Japan,
New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei.
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- Most early arrivals said they were not inconvenienced
or offended by the new security procedures.
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- "It went fast," said Gael Colloc'h, a Frenchman
arriving from Paris at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
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- "It's normal to have control when you come into
a country," he said, adding that perhaps Americans going to France
should be subjected to the same requirements.
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- U.S. officials said the extra safeguards will take about
15 seconds per person and could help prevent another attack like that on
Sept. 11, 2001, by giving law enforcement officials a more complete record
of who is in the country.
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- "It is going smoothly. There are no problems,"
said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Garrison Courtney.
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- "The United States wants to remain an open country
to visitors and tourists, but after 9/11 we understood that there needed
to be a better system to ensure people are complying with the visa laws,"
he said from Washington, adding that the new procedure would help achieve
that goal.
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- TIGHTER SECURITY
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- After the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New
York, Washington and Pennsylvania, when almost 3,000 people died, U.S.
officials ratcheted up security at airports and ports, causing longer lines
and delays for many travelers.
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- The new policy -- now at airports and seaports and at
the 50 busiest U.S. land crossings by the end of the year -- extends a
program that started Jan. 5 which requires that everyone who comes to the
United States on a visa, except diplomats, be fingerprinted and photographed
on arrival.
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- The expanded US-VISIT Program will affect about 13 million
visitors annually from the 27 nations. Visas are required for visitors
from other countries, and for those on extended stays for work or school.
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- When the U.S. started the program in January, it sparked
irritation from Brazil, which reacted in February by requiring that Americans
be fingerprinted and photographed when traveling to the Latin American
nation.
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- The 25-nation European Union has pledged it will introduce
biometrics into visitors' visas and EU passports.
-
- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told reporters in
the Netherlands after meeting with EU ministers at Scheveningen, a Dutch
resort near The Hague, that the United States had no interest in deterring
travelers.
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- "The United States cares very deeply about the way
it is viewed by the people of Europe," Ashcroft said.
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- "It is not a new idea. The idea of biometric identifiers
is being embraced worldwide as a way of providing integrity to travel documents,"
he added.
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- Since starting the US-VISIT program in January, 8.5 million
foreigners have been fingerprinted and photographed, allowing officials
to check them against lists of wanted criminals and suspected terrorists.
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- About 280 people have been stopped as a result of the
checks because of suspected criminal or immigration violations. The program
has yet to turn up a single terrorist suspect, U.S. officials said.
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- The 27 countries affected are Andorra, Australia, Austria,
Belgium, Britain, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand,
Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
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- - Additional reporting by Deborah Charles in Washington
and by Marie-Louise Moller and Paul Gallagher in Netherlands
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- http://news.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6380281
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