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

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Former Enron Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey Pleads Guilty to Securities Fraud

Former Enron Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey Pleads Guilty to Securities Fraud

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Richard A. Causey, the former chief accounting officer at Enron Corp., has pleaded guilty to a charge of securities fraud, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today. Causey, 44, a resident of The Woodlands, Texas, entered his plea at a hearing in Houston this afternoon before Judge Sim Lake of U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas.

Trial for Causey’s co-defendants, former Enron chief executive officers Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, is scheduled to begin before Judge Lake on Jan. 30, 2006. As part of his plea agreement, Causey admitted to conspiring with members of Enron’s senior management to make false and misleading statements in Enron’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – and in analyst calls – about the financial condition of Enron, which did not fairly and accurately reflect the company’s actual financial performance as he knew it. Causey also admitted to participating with others in senior management in efforts to use Enron’s public filings and public statements to mislead the investing public by making false and misleading statements and omitting facts about the true nature of Enron’s financial performance.

Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2001 and its stock became virtually worthless. The plea agreement calls for a sentence of seven years in prison. The defendant would be eligible for a reduction of up to two years in the sentence if he provides full, complete and truthful cooperation with the Enron Task Force’s ongoing probe into the collapse of the Enron Corp. As part of the agreement, Causey agrees to forfeit $1.25 million to the government and give up claim to any deferred compensation claims from Enron.

The investigation into Enron’s collapse is being conducted by the Enron Task Force, a team of federal prosecutors supervised by the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and agents from the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation. The Task Force also has coordinated with and received considerable assistance from the SEC. The Enron Task Force is part of President Bush’s Corporate Fraud Task Force, created in July 2002 to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption at U.S. corporations.

### 05-695, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2005 USDOJ.GOV
CRM (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888

more at Enron or Accounting or Securities Fraud and Justice Department

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