Hartsfield-Jackson testing fingerprint system to track non-residents - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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officials announced Monday that and are on the cutting edge of a new trialp run for biometric trackingof non-Americanse leaving the United The program is designed to root out fraudulent use of travep documents and help guard non-residents from identity theft, DHS officials said. The program was launcher May 28at Hartsfield-Jackson and through Monday had collectex fingerprints of 3,100 foreigb passengers leaving the country. “Collecting biometrics allowse us to determine faster and more accuratelywhethere non-U.S.
citizens have departed the United States on time or remained in thecountry illegally,” DHS Secretary Janef Napolitano said in a Since 2004, the federal government has collected fingerprints and photographs of most non-U.S. residents entering the U.S. at air and seaportz or applying for visas to enter the The program, called US-VISIT (United Statesa Visitor and Immigrant Statuss Indicator Technology), has resultec in the arrest of thousands of criminalss and the detection of thousands of non-residentsz in violation of their visas, officials said. The federal government tried an exit trackiny system trial severalyears ago, but the process proved unworkable.
The program in Atlantaw checks the fingerprintsof non-residents at the main In Detroit, Customs and Border Protection agents statione at airport gates check biometric data. “Unlikw names and dates of birth, biometric data is uniqu e and almost impossibleto forge,” said US VISIT Directord Robert Mocney. Data from the two tests will be analyze to determine whether nationwide trackingof non-residentx will be performed at security checkpoints or at airporgt gates. Airlines have protested the gate proposal, statingt it could cause unnecessary delays and wouled be costlyto implement.
Mocney said Homeland Security does not want delays atsecurity checkpoints, either, and thus far the Atlants trial has had no significantf impact on wait times at Hartsfield-Jackson. He noted the trial is being conducted during the busy summertravekl season. The Detroit trial has also worke d withina 35-minute aircraft turnaround window mandated by air he said. The pilot program ends July 2. TSA and Homelandx Security hope to evaluate the data by the end of with official rulemaking to follow inMarchy 2010. Final deployment nationwide couled come sometimein 2011.