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Foreigners To Give 10 Fingers to US Customs

by Iva Skoch (RSS feed) on Dec 3rd 2007 at 3:30PM

Travel to the US will, once again, get a little bit more annoying for foreigners. Since 2004, the Homeland Security Department has been collecting their index-finger prints, gathering a whopping 90 million sets of prints. Is this ultra-private information safe with the US government? Who knows.

That was apparently only the beginning. The new security program, called US-VISIT, will require foreigners to get all 10 fingerprints scanned. Homeland security spokesman Russ Knocke said to USA Today that biometrics can be a game-changer: "They represent what terrorists fear most - an increased likelihood of getting caught."

That's very interesting, Russ. I thought the entire problem with the war of terror is that we have no idea what terrorists want. Clearly, we now do. They are petrified of getting caught. OK then.

By March, foreigners arriving at the following airports will have to provide 10 fingerprints:

• Washington, D.C. area (Dulles)

• Boston

• Chicago (O'Hare)

• Detroit

• Atlanta

• Houston (Intercontinental)

• Miami

• New York (Kennedy)

• Orlando

• San Francisco

Source: Homeland Security Department

Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines, Airports

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jon Dec 4th 2007 6:43AM

Terrorists....win.

Guess who's not going to the states now? Me for one - I was going to spend this week in NY but got turned off by all the stupid immigration rules. Shame really, all my xmas shopping, all my money is now not going into the US economy.

What do terrorists want to do? Spread fear, terror, disrupt day-to-day living, make you think about what might happen, restrict your freedoms.

Which is precisely what is happening. And how does it stop a terrorist anyway? The 9-11 boys were in the country legally - having someones fingerprints doesn't stop them blowing things up y'know.