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U.S. to Launch New Program to Facilitate Foreign Visitors

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Miami -- The Bush administration will launch a new security program January 5, 2004, that will serve the dual purpose of speeding the entry of legal foreign visitors into the United States while keeping out potential security threats.

In a December 10 interview in Miami, Asa Hutchinson, under secretary for borders and transportation in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the program, called US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology), is an example of the how the Bush administration seeks to apply the latest in high technology to increase security at U.S. ports of entry.

The new procedures will require most visitors traveling on visas to the United States to have two fingerprints scanned by an inkless device and a digital photograph taken by immigration officials upon entry at U.S. air and seaports. The program, Hutchinson said, will minimize the possibility of document fraud and identify individuals who are on a terrorist watch list with the goal of preventing them from entering the country.

As originally approved by the U.S. Congress before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the program "was designed to attack the problem of visa overstays in the United States," said Hutchinson. "But obviously it was accelerated after 9/11 and the security aspects of it have been dramatically increased."

Hutchinson noted that US-VISIT will initially be applied at U.S. airports and seaports, and will later be expanded to other ports of entry.

The program, he said, will be directed at visitors from all parts of the world who wish to come into the United States. Hutchinson emphasized that the United States wants to continue to be a "welcoming nation" and the new program "will help us to focus on the 'at-risk traveler' and to facilitate [the entry of] people who are no risk or frequently visit the United States." He added that "this is not a matter of inconvenience because as we develop the system, we will be able to quickly identify someone who has a good record of visiting the United States, who has honored our visa laws, and we will expedite their entry into" the country.

Hutchinson defined the at-risk traveler as anyone with a connection with terrorism, who has a history of overstaying his or her visas, or who has not followed U.S. legal requirements for entering or staying in the country. For more information about the US-VISIT program, visit www.dhs.gov/us-visit.

Asked about U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge's reported comment that illegal aliens in the United States should be given "some kind of legal status," Hutchinson said the comment "reflected the ongoing debate within the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress over how to address the complex immigration issues" facing the United States.

Hutchinson said his agency has an "influence" on the policy debate over that controversial issue, but he said his primary mandate is to secure the borders and transportation systems of the United States from terrorists and weapons of mass destruction.

During a later speech to a conference on the Caribbean, Hutchinson said that in the two years since the September 11 attacks, "the international community of nations has moved toward tighter regulations on the flow of money to prevent the facilitation of terrorism."

Concomitantly, Hutchinson said this crackdown against terrorism has also presented a "challenge to maintaining commerce, tourism, and friendship between our neighbors" in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Hutchinson said if a terrorist gets into one country in the region, it presents a security risk to the rest of the nations in the "neighborhood."

To minimize this risk, he called for the creation of a "neighborhood security zone" in which "we all participate, in which we all have [security] standards, and we all make efforts to invest in security."

Such a security zone, Hutchinson said, would provide an economic benefit to the Caribbean region, particularly in trade and tourism.

Secure air transportation is an "absolute necessity" for tourism in the Caribbean, he said. Alternatively, inadequate airline security, Hutchinson cautioned, would dramatically reduce the number of U.S. and European tourists willing to visit the Caribbean islands.

Hutchinson said his agency is committed to "not just protecting America but also to facilitating travel and commercial exchange between good friends." This will be done, he said, by "making a commitment to the balance between security and commerce."

Hutchinson noted that President Bush said in February 2001 that his vision of foreign policy "starts in the neighborhood," meaning the Caribbean, Latin American region.

In that spirit, Hutchinson said that "we are neighbors, friends, and allies. Let us be committed to strengthening each other -- both economically and in terms of security."