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Visitor Fingerprinting Expanded

Homeland Security hopes scans of all 10 digits will improve tracking, monitoring

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 27, 2008 8:28 PM CDT

(Newser) – Visitors to the US entering through New York's John F. Kennedy airport will have all 10 fingers scanned under a new program of the Department of Homeland Security, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Officials hope the program, called US-VISIT, will allow customs—which currently collects just two prints from non-citizen visitors—to snag entrants with fake documentation or criminal records. 

"We're testing it at multiple locations throughout the US … before we roll it out at all of the ports of entry," said the program's director, who expects full deployment by year's end. DHS hopes the program will help in tracking down visitors who stay after their visa expires, the hardest immigration offenders to regulate.

A fingerprint pad in use at San Francisco International Airport on Monday, January 5, 2004.
A fingerprint pad in use at San Francisco International Airport on Monday, January 5, 2004.   (KRT Photos)
By the end of December 2008 all air, land, and sea ports of entry will have the devices, said Robert Mocny, director of the DHS US-VISIT program.
"By the end of December 2008 all air, land, and sea ports of entry will have the devices," said Robert Mocny, director of the DHS US-VISIT program.   (Shutterstock.com)
Daryl Buchanan, left, of Australia, is photographed and fingerprinted at San Francisco International Airport on January 5, 2004.
Daryl Buchanan, left, of Australia, is photographed and fingerprinted at San Francisco International Airport on January 5, 2004.   (KRT Photos)
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