Tracking Failures

From USA Today:

"Government's failure to track foreign visitors angers Congress"

 

 

 

In a rare scene of bipartisan agreement in Congress, senators from both parties hammered Department of Homeland Security officials Wednesday over their inability to create a program to accurately track all foreign visitors who leave the country. The hearing came a day after the department released the first-ever report on the number of foreigners who legally enter the USA and are suspected of staying in the country after their visas expired. That number totaled 482,781 in 2015, a tiny fraction of nearly 45 million legal foreign visitors last year. The department compiled that data largely using plane manifests and other information shared by airlines. But since 2004, the department has been required by Congress to capture biometric information, such as fingerprints or iris scans, from every passenger leaving the country. So far, the department has tested out different pilot programs to do that but cannot say when it will be able to start capturing that information for all departing passengers. Homeland Security officials explained that they've been working on a solution but have been unable to complete it because of the way U.S. ports of entry are designed. In Europe, for example, many airports have separate areas for domestic and international flights. Foreigners entering U.S. airports are funneled through Customs checkpoints, but departing flights leave from all terminals and all gates. Wagner offered different scenarios to show the difficulty of tracking passengers in that kind of environment. If the biometric data are collected when passengers check in for their flight at an airport terminal, passengers can simply submit their fingerprints, check in for their flights and then walk out of the airport. Their records would indicate they left, but they actually remain in the country. Wagner said the agency also tested out a plan where Customs officers use handheld devices to gather biometric information as people are boarding a plane. But he said that would lead to unreasonable delays for all flights and could cost more than $1 billion to hire enough Customs officers to handle each outbound flight. "It can take two hours to board the plane (that way), but that's not feasible," Wagner said. "The cost is going to be tremendous to do that." That did not satisfy the senators on the panel. Republicans and Democrats alike pointed out the national security risk that remains as long as the system is not finalized.  Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., read from the DHS report to show how many foreigners from countries with terrorist ties overstayed their visas last year: 219 from Afghanistan, 681 from Iraq, 440 from Syria, 219 from Yemen. "This is the very essence of open borders," Sessions said. "Anyone can come in, no one has to leave." Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., agreed. "This is about national security, and it's hard for me to envision that we can't figure out where to get space to do this at an airport or seaport." DHS officials said they would continue working on three separate pilot programs to implement a full biometric exit process. One is using facial-recognition software at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. A separate test is being conducted at 10 of the nation's largest airports, where Customs and Border Patrol officers use handheld devices to get the information at departure gates. And a third test is using kiosks at a land border in San Diego where people entering the country have their irises scanned. Wagner said he would report the results of those pilot programs back to Congress.

 

 

^ It is pretty pathetic that the US can do so many innovative things and yet can not accurately tell whether a person has entered or left the country (legally I mean.) I have been to numerous countries that have immigration when you enter that country and immigration when you leave that country. Considering that the US requires citizens and non-citizens to give their passport details when they book an international flight it shouldn't be that hard to use that data, along with the airlines data to make sure the person actually left the country. I have had several foreign friends that had to "fight" with Homeland Security to prove they left the US on-time because the airline didn't give Immigration their departure form. This whole mess shouldn't take a genius to fix and yet it seems we aren't as smart as other countries in this respect. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/20/immigration-visa-overstays-senate-judiciary-committee-hearing/79077342/