Ashcroft says entry-exit registration system a vital line of defense in war against terrorism
In a move that has already provoked debate and criticism, the United States Department of Justice is proposing new regulations that would require foreign students, tourists and other visitors to register with the federal government.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on June 5 announced the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, calling it a “vital line of defense in the war against terrorism.”
Congress has mandated that, by 2005, the Department of Justice (DOJ) build an entry-exit system that tracks virtually all of the 35 million foreign visitors who come to the U.S. annually, Ashcroft said, adding, “this entry-exit registration system is the crucial first phase in that endeavor and will track approximately 100,000 visitors in the first year.”
“When aliens violate these rules, we will place their photographs, fingerprints, and information in the National Crime Information Center system. The nation’s 650,000 police officers check this system regularly in the course of traffic stops and routine encounters.”
There are three components to this initiative: first — fingerprinting and photographing at the entry points to the country; second — periodic registration of aliens who stay in the U.S. for 30 days or more; and third — exit controls that will help the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) remove aliens who overstay their visas, Ashcroft detailed.
Administration officials indicated that men between the age of 18 and 35, largely from Muslim and Middle Eastern nations deemed as high-risk countries, would make the bulk of those to be fingerprinted and photographed.
Muslim nations like Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, including Pakistan, are listed as high-risk countries. The screening would include certain nationals of other countries whom the State Department and the INS determine to be an elevated national security risk, which could include Saudi Arabia. It would also include aliens identified by INS inspectors at airports and seaports upon specific criteria to be established by the DOJ.
The administration’s plan has been criticized by Islamic and civil rights groups and provoked a national debate. Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said, “In the post-9-11 world, we all understand the need for increased security. He said: “American Muslims, like all other citizens, want to prevent another terrorist attack in the United States. Unfortunately, policies that single out particular religious and ethnic groups create a false sense of security and end up further damaging America’s image and reputation around the world.”
While explaining the need for the new screening system, Ashcroft had said: “We will evaluate individual visitors for the risk of involvement in terrorist activity and impose these requirements on visitors who fall into categories of elevated national security concern.”
The attorney general noted that the INS and State Department would work together to identify these individuals at, or prior to, entry.
Mechanisms developed post Sept. 11 to track down persons of Middle Eastern descent, will be used to identify visa holders from these countries, by anti-terrorism teams at federal, state and local levels.
The plan will be published in the Federal Register and become a Justice Department regulation once the comment period is over.
According to The New York Times, the State Department is reluctant to have such a regulation as it could complicate foreign relations with many nations, but White House officials are supportive. Ashcroft said the legal basis for the new regulations exists in the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act as well as later legislation, that required foreigners register if they were staying in the country longer than 30 days and be fingerprinted.
Ashcroft said new technologies would enable performing a quick fingerprint check at the border that takes only three minutes to complete. “We have already deployed systems at a limited number of ports of entry that can scan a person’s fingerprints and compare the prints to vast databases of known criminals and terrorists,” the attorney general said. “The early results of this pilot program are extremely promising: we are receiving an average of 67 “hits” per week, and 1,400 wanted criminals have been arrested in the past five months as they have attempted to enter the country.”
He said operations in Afghanistan had greatly expanded the database of thousands of known terrorists. He also cited examples of European countries, like France, that have always had a periodic registration system for aliens.
The periodic registration, Ashcroft clarified, would only apply to those individuals of elevated national security concern who stay in the country for more than 30 days. Such registration will be required at the 30-day point, and every 12 months after the date of entry. Aliens already in the U.S. who fall into categories of elevated national security concern will be asked to come in and register as well.
“This is a well-established way of making sure that visitors do not try to disappear into society, and that they stick to their stated plans while in the country,” Ashcroft maintained.
Those who evade registration requirements, or stay beyond the time permitted, could be arrested. “When aliens violate these rules, we will place their photographs, fingerprints, and information in the National Crime Information Center system. The nation’s 650,000 police officers check this system regularly in the course of traffic stops and routine encounters.”
The New York Times, in an editorial, called the plan a “poorly conceived and inadequate substitute for the serious overhaul of the immigration system that should be among Washington’s most urgent priorities.”
