US-Visit program unfairly applied

Certain foreign visitors to the United States will now have their fingerprints and pictures… Certain foreign visitors to the United States will now have their fingerprints and pictures taken, in an operation that the Department of Homeland Security hopes will improve monitoring of who enters and leaves the country.

But this operation, dubbed US-VISIT, does not apply to all travelers. Those from Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe – yes, even France – who visit will not be fingerprinted or photographed. This only applies until October, when those countries must certify that they have appropriate tracking systems of biometrics, according to a Homeland Security Question and Answer sheet.

But why make such distinctions? If the United States is going to collect and record such data, ostensibly in the interest of national security, it should do so indiscriminately.

The program, which cost $710 million and was mandated in 2000, was designed to track air and sea travel. And, in this age of mercurial appearances and identity theft, fingerprinting is necessary to ensure proper identification.

Moreover, as The Washington Post reported Jan. 6, whatever complaints travelers have about the new system, the process does not seem to be delaying air travel or overly inconveniencing anyone. A quick press of a finger to glass and a glamorous, driver’s license-style digital photo take less time than removing shoes, passing through metal detectors or going through the other security procedures.

Still, fingerprinting select groups, while permitting others to receive waivers from the program, creates loopholes and engenders hostility from slighted countries.

Already, a Brazilian judge ruled that all U.S. citizens entering Brazil would be subject to the same procedures. Parity dictates that American visitors should submit their biometrics with little grumbling, considering the process takes about 15 seconds.

Other countries may follow Brazil’s example, in order to symbolically spite the United States for favoring Singapore over, say, those countries that do not actively persecute Jehovah’s Witnesses or cane criminals.

In the interest of repairing the United States’ relationship with three entire continents, US-VISIT should be an all-or-nothing program – either record this information uniformly or don’t record any at all.