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Brazilian B.S.
Okay, since we are fingerprinting and photographing everyone entering the U.S. (except for 27 countries), we have caused the ire of at least one government.
This from NY Newsday:
Brazil's Foreign Ministry has requested that Brazilians be removed from the U.S. list, and police started fingerprinting and photographing Americans arriving at Sao Paulo's airport last week in response to the new U.S. regulations.More B.S. from Brazil via Reuters:
...But the Brazilian fingerprint programme of U.S. visitors that began last Thursday came on the orders of a judge who angrily compared the new U.S. controls to Nazi horrors."I consider the act absolutely brutal, threatening human rights, violating human dignity, xenophobic and worthy of the worst horrors committed by the Nazis," said Federal Judge Julier Sebastiao da Silva in a court order to authorise the programme in Brazil.
Brazil may be making headlines for bull-headedness (and they DO know something about Nazis afterall); however, there are also some further benefits to the U.S.-VISIT implementation - like adherence to our laws. This from the Chicago Tribune:
...However, not all foreign visitors will be fingerprinted and photographed on arrival at U.S. ports. Nationals from 27 countries, mostly Western European nations and a few Asian nations such as Japan and Singapore from which the U.S. does not require visas, are exempt unless they hold jobs in the U.S., which typically requires a visa.I also saw on Fox this morning that the Russian government was crafting a protest. But I don't see how they can when they Chechnya within their territory receiving and giving aid to al Qaeda.Before U.S.-VISIT, the 26 million visa-bearing visitors who annually entered the United States had to present their identity documents to immigration inspectors and answer questions about the purpose of their visits. Sometimes their names were checked against a database of persons not to be admitted, such as terrorism suspects.
But those measures were often thwarted by travelers using false passports. The new effort should make the successful use of fraudulent documents much more difficult.
...The Immigration and Naturalization Service, predecessor to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, kept paper records of visa-bearing visitors, an antiquated process that made timely investigations extremely difficult.
Supporters of U.S.-VISIT say that beyond its benefit to prevent terrorism, the system will keep visitors from staying beyond their visa deadlines.
Prior to U.S.-VISIT, many visitors would overstay their visas without penalty.
But now, visitors who depart the U.S. after overstaying their visas and then try to return are likely to be told that they will not be allowed to enter, said Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, a private group that researches such issues.
January 05, 2004 • Permalink
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» We Can Fucking Well Chop 'Em Off Instead, If You Like! from The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
LC & IB Blackfive has a post on some of the first bleating guppybrains whining about our fingerprinting and photographing... [Read More]
Tracked on Jan 5, 2004 9:02:33 PM
