DHS Completes Foundation of Biometric Entry System

DHS Completes Foundation of Biometric Entry System

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) US VISIT program has completed installation of biometric entry capabilities at 104 land border ports, as mandated by Congress. Biometric entry capabilities are now deployed at all fixed ports of entry open to US-VISIT travelers.

“The U.S. Government’s efforts to strengthen our nation’s immigration and border management system have taken a giant leap with the deployment of US VISIT entry capabilities at all our ports and visa-issuing posts abroad,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “US VISIT is making America safer by enhancing our border management system with next-generation technologies and processes to address the emerging threats, challenges, and opportunities of our 21st century world.”

US VISIT installed biometric entry procedures at the 50 busiest land border ports along the U.S. Canada and U.S.-Mexico land borders as of Dec. 29, 2004; meeting the Dec.31, 2004 deadline. The deployment of biometric entry procedures to each of the remaining 104 land border ports of entry is also ahead of the congressional deadline of Dec. 31, 2005.

US VISIT is a continuum of security measures that collect biometric and biographic information from visitors at U.S. visa-issuing posts upon their arrival and departure from U.S. air, sea and land border ports. The program enhances security by verifying each visitors’ identity and by comparing their biometric and biographical information against watch lists of terrorists, criminals, and immigration violators.

Since January 2004, US VISIT has processed more than 44 million visitors, which makes the program the largest-scale application of biometrics in the world. Biometrics have enabled US VISIT to intercept, at U.S. ports of entry, more than 970 people with histories of criminal or immigration violations, including federal penitentiary escapees, convicted rapists, drug traffickers, individuals convicted of murder, and numerous immigration violators.

Additionally, the State Department’s BioVisa program, which is fully integrated with US VISIT, has resulted in over 14,000 hits on individuals applying for visas to travel to the United States.

At many land border ports of entry, US VISIT has decreased processing time in secondary inspection as a result of the automation of Form I-94 issuance process and US VISIT’s simple, fast and clean biometric processes.

US VISIT currently applies to all visitors entering the United States, regardless of country of origin, or whether they are traveling on a visa with certain exemptions. Canadian citizens are exempt, as are most Mexican visitors who apply for admission using a Border Crossing Card, also known as a laser visa, and travel within the border zone during the 30 day time limit.

For more information, visit dhs.gov/us-visit.

### For Immediate Release, Office of the Press Secretary, Contact: 202-282-8010, December 30, 2005

more at Michael Chertoff or Immigration Services or Homeland Security and Biometric or US VISIT or DHS and biometrics or BioVisa

Related: Sunday, March 13, 2005 S.394 OPEN Government Act of 2005, Wednesday, March 16, 2005 DHS/IAIP Daily Open Source Critical Infrastructure Report, Sunday, March 20, 2005 TOPOFF 3, counterterrorism exercise, Thursday, December 29, 2005 New Director of U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,