Welcome to the United States, Criminal Suspect!

The answer to your question is: it sucks. I like to believe I’m a good ‘alien’ and that I’m a contribute in positive way to the US research community. And the people who surround me certainly make me feel that way. But boy, there’s nothing like being photographed and fingerprinted every time I go home to make me feel welcome.

This kind of measure, together with the new surveillance system for foreign students/researches that has been set up by the goverment (which is at least partially paid for by new fees on visa applications), is making a dent on the US’s ability to recruit people from overseas.

Best Regards.

The answer to your question is: it sucks. I like to believe I’m a good ‘alien’ and that I’m a contribute in positive way to the US research community. And the people who surround me certainly make me feel that way. But boy, there’s nothing like being photographed and fingerprinted every time I go home to make me feel welcome.

This kind of measure, together with the new surveillance system for foreign students/researches that has been set up by the goverment (which is at least partially paid for by new fees on visa applications), is making a dent on the US’s ability to recruit people from overseas.

Best Regards.

Even US citizens returning from a foreign country now have to present a passport to document their eligibility to get back in.

Even US citizens returning from a foreign country now have to present a passport to document their eligibility to get back in.

Why would you ever want to come back in? You made it out! your free! Now run run run run.

Why would you ever want to come back in? You made it out! your free! Now run run run run.

I used to think that “if I have nothing to hide, I shouldn’t mind asking a few questions when I cross the border.” After all, that actually did help catch drug smuglers.

Then they took two fingerprints. I thought “Well, it’s silly, but there’s really nothing they can do with two fingerprints as there’s no correlation between fingers. So it’s a futile measure, but if it makes them feel better.”

Now I have to give 10 and I feel humiliated. I can’t explain it, it doesn’t make me a criminal, but it feels outrageous and humiliating to have to go through this. I have no first-hand experience with repressive regimes, but this is starting to remind a bit too much of the USSR. Oh, that and the always present messages in airports and public places reminding you to “report any suspicious behaviour to authorities.”

Anybody watched 1984 lately?

I used to think that “if I have nothing to hide, I shouldn’t mind asking a few questions when I cross the border.” After all, that actually did help catch drug smuglers.

Then they took two fingerprints. I thought “Well, it’s silly, but there’s really nothing they can do with two fingerprints as there’s no correlation between fingers. So it’s a futile measure, but if it makes them feel better.”

Now I have to give 10 and I feel humiliated. I can’t explain it, it doesn’t make me a criminal, but it feels outrageous and humiliating to have to go through this. I have no first-hand experience with repressive regimes, but this is starting to remind a bit too much of the USSR. Oh, that and the always present messages in airports and public places reminding you to “report any suspicious behaviour to authorities.”

Anybody watched 1984 lately?

It’s not just that the US is playing big brother here. It’s really going against the liberties which it’s supposed to stand for. Not even the most authoritarian countries do this mass fingerprinting and comparing against their fingerprint databases!

It’s also really important to understand the differences between how the US treats “it’s own” versus how it treats the “others.”

First, in order to obtain a *biometric* US passport, all that is needed is to submit a photograph of yourself. No fingerprints, no iris scans, no outline of your butt using a photocopier…only a photograph. And why? Well, because if they started requiring anything else, there would be an uproar. Right now they’re having a heck of a time just getting the people to agree for all the states to have the same format for an ID card. Forget the biometrics.

Second, when a plane to the US arrives, the passengers are separated into two separate areas where they receive very different treatment. The US citizens get the stamp from customs, hand in the customs declaration form, get their luggage, and that’s the end of it (ok..sometimes there’s a dog that sniffs around for food). Everybody else gets photographed, fingerprinted, and harassed by the border patrol at will. Welcome to the land of the free?

Third, there is a huge difference between the rights afforded to US citizens and non-citizens. The US government has explicitly stated that there are no US citizens on the terrorist watch list. So just by virtue of possessing a US passport, somebody like Timothy McVeigh is exempt from any sort of screening, while French citizen Jacque gets his fingerprints scanned against the terrorist watch list, the interpol fingerprint database, and the FBI fingerprint database.

This blatant discrimination against non-US citizens is bad enough, but the government has given numerous reasons for its development and expansion. So let’s analyze those

Initially, the US has expanded the photographing/fingerprinting to the visa waiver program (VWP) countries because in 2004, they said that the countries did not issue their biometric passports by the US-mandated deadline. But now that all VWP have biometric passports, the US not only continues to fingerprint incoming VWP travelers, but has expanded it. What is the excuse for continuing to do so?

Also, the US claims that it is necessary not only to obtain the fingerprints, but to keep them for an indefinite amount of time in a database (they say 75 years, but who picked this number?) to detect future terrorist activity. If this is the case, then I would imagine that US citizens without any contact with the US criminal justice system should be ok with being fingerprinted and having their prints stored in a government database in case they commit a crime in the future. But they’re not ok with this, and the logic behind this, which is that it violates civil liberties, should apply here, no?

Also, let’s look at who is exempt from fingerprinting:
1) All diplomats. If the US fingerprinted the Spanish president, this would be an insult, and he might not come to the US. But if it fingerprints a Spanish citizen, then it’s ok.
2) Anybody under 14 years of age. Why 14?
3) Anybody over 79 years of age. Is this a special perk of being old?
4) If the White House, DHS, or the CIA says so.
5) Taiwan workers who are in the US to carry out trade between the US and Taiwan.
6) Canadian citizens. Clearly, there is a more serious threat of somebody being a terrorist if they are a citizen of a country that does not have as many people crossing the border and contributing to the economy of the other country as do Canada and the US.
7) Mexican citizens, because they already get fingerprinted.

It is unfortunate that we have leadership in the US which uses false intelligence as a pretense to invade another country for its economic interests, uses governmental powers to carry out secret illegal detentions, and uses terrorism as an excuse to create mass biometric surveillance databases of all visitors.

While there is no question that it is important to prevent terrorism and verify the authenticity of documents, this must be done legally and with respect for people’s rights. I hope that whatever government comes into power in 2009 realizes this, and that what is happening now will be remembered as an unfortunate past, much like the mass concentration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

It’s not just that the US is playing big brother here. It’s really going against the liberties which it’s supposed to stand for. Not even the most authoritarian countries do this mass fingerprinting and comparing against their fingerprint databases!

It’s also really important to understand the differences between how the US treats “it’s own” versus how it treats the “others.”

First, in order to obtain a *biometric* US passport, all that is needed is to submit a photograph of yourself. No fingerprints, no iris scans, no outline of your butt using a photocopier…only a photograph. And why? Well, because if they started requiring anything else, there would be an uproar. Right now they’re having a heck of a time just getting the people to agree for all the states to have the same format for an ID card. Forget the biometrics.

Second, when a plane to the US arrives, the passengers are separated into two separate areas where they receive very different treatment. The US citizens get the stamp from customs, hand in the customs declaration form, get their luggage, and that’s the end of it (ok..sometimes there’s a dog that sniffs around for food). Everybody else gets photographed, fingerprinted, and harassed by the border patrol at will. Welcome to the land of the free?

Third, there is a huge difference between the rights afforded to US citizens and non-citizens. The US government has explicitly stated that there are no US citizens on the terrorist watch list. So just by virtue of possessing a US passport, somebody like Timothy McVeigh is exempt from any sort of screening, while French citizen Jacque gets his fingerprints scanned against the terrorist watch list, the interpol fingerprint database, and the FBI fingerprint database.

This blatant discrimination against non-US citizens is bad enough, but the government has given numerous reasons for its development and expansion. So let’s analyze those

Initially, the US has expanded the photographing/fingerprinting to the visa waiver program (VWP) countries because in 2004, they said that the countries did not issue their biometric passports by the US-mandated deadline. But now that all VWP have biometric passports, the US not only continues to fingerprint incoming VWP travelers, but has expanded it. What is the excuse for continuing to do so?

Also, the US claims that it is necessary not only to obtain the fingerprints, but to keep them for an indefinite amount of time in a database (they say 75 years, but who picked this number?) to detect future terrorist activity. If this is the case, then I would imagine that US citizens without any contact with the US criminal justice system should be ok with being fingerprinted and having their prints stored in a government database in case they commit a crime in the future. But they’re not ok with this, and the logic behind this, which is that it violates civil liberties, should apply here, no?

Also, let’s look at who is exempt from fingerprinting:

1) All diplomats. If the US fingerprinted the Spanish president, this would be an insult, and he might not come to the US. But if it fingerprints a Spanish citizen, then it’s ok.

2) Anybody under 14 years of age. Why 14?

3) Anybody over 79 years of age. Is this a special perk of being old?

4) If the White House, DHS, or the CIA says so.

5) Taiwan workers who are in the US to carry out trade between the US and Taiwan.

6) Canadian citizens. Clearly, there is a more serious threat of somebody being a terrorist if they are a citizen of a country that does not have as many people crossing the border and contributing to the economy of the other country as do Canada and the US.

7) Mexican citizens, because they already get fingerprinted.

It is unfortunate that we have leadership in the US which uses false intelligence as a pretense to invade another country for its economic interests, uses governmental powers to carry out secret illegal detentions, and uses terrorism as an excuse to create mass biometric surveillance databases of all visitors.

While there is no question that it is important to prevent terrorism and verify the authenticity of documents, this must be done legally and with respect for people’s rights. I hope that whatever government comes into power in 2009 realizes this, and that what is happening now will be remembered as an unfortunate past, much like the mass concentration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

I’m sure that if the Nazis had access to fingerprint technology like this back in the day that they wouldn’t have tattooed numbers into people’s arms.

I’m sure that if the Nazis had access to fingerprint technology like this back in the day that they wouldn’t have tattooed numbers into people’s arms.