U.S. enacts new foreigner entry policy

IU students returning to the United States after winter break were among some of the first people to be processed through the new U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program, known as US-VISIT. US-VISIT was developed by the Department of Homeland Security and is designed to help immigration officials verify and track visitors to the United States through the collection of biometric identifiers, such as photographs and fingerprints. \nFollowing the implementation of US-VISIT on Jan. 5, most visa-carrying visitors, such as business persons, students and tourists, will be digitally photographed and have fingerprints of their index fingers taken when they enter or leave the United States. In addition to the new collection of biometric data, traditional information will still be collected by immigration officials from passenger travel documents and through questioning.\nIU Political Science Professor Timothy Tilton said the new measures are a reflection of the current security situation in the United States. \n"When governments are fearful, they take measures they feel are likely to increase their security," he said\nJennifer Bowen, foreign student advisor at IU's Office of International Student Services, said the program seems not to have inconvenienced students too much. \n"We asked a few of the students we have spoken to who have arrived for the spring semester about their experience with the US-VISIT program, and most of them said it was fairly fast and didn't cause any problem," she said. "We didn't hear anything negative." \nIU senior Dhiraj Bhatia was processed using the new technology when returning to the US after the break and says he has his misgivings about it. "I understand that the US is concerned about security measures, but this is the first time I ever had to do this. I am shocked they do this to whoever is visiting. Not everyone is a terrorist." Bhatia said.\nVisitors from the 27 countries that do not require a visa to visit the United States are exempt from the new program. Opponents of the program point out that these exemptions would have missed British citizen Richard Reed, who tried to light explosives hidden in his shoes while on a U.S.-bound flight, and French citizen Zacarias Moussaoui, who authorities believe had trained to take part in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Several of the Sept. 11 hijackers traveled legally into the United States on valid passports and visas, and some probably would have passed undetected through the new system had it been in place at the time, opponents say.\nDina Spechler, Associate Professor of Political Science, said the new program on its own will not guarantee that the United States will be able to keep out terrorists but that information collected through US-VISIT could be used in association with other intelligence to help improve security within the United States. \n"My assumption is that the program's purpose is not so much as to catch people as they enter, but rather to keep track of who is here," she said, "and as information about people gleaned, to be able to track them down and find out where they are." \nMany civil rights groups and individuals are concerned the program will be inefficient in securing the United States and many legitimate visitors might find the process unwelcoming or possibly even demeaning. The American Civil Liberties Union stated in a press release that "we haven't even come up with an effective system, let alone one that doesn't treat every visitor as a potential terrorist."\n"I don't think there is anything objectively demeaning or unwelcoming about it (US-VISIT), particularly if one takes a minute to reflect on the threat to the United States," Spechler said. \nShe added she does not believe the new policy will deter business persons or students from choosing to come to the United States because of the economic opportunities available and the international recognition of the American higher educational system. Spechler said tourists to the United States are the most likely to re-think going through the added hassle.\n-- Contact staff reporter Rami Chami at rchami@indiana.edu.