New border tracking program has yet to net terrorists

A new visa system at the nation's borders is catching more immigration violators and criminals, but it has yet to uncover anyone suspected of terrorism-related activities, according to homeland security officials.

Critics say the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US VISIT) program is stretching thin an already overloaded border workforce and and does not appear, at least in the early stages, to be making the country safer from potential terrorists.

Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary of border and transportation security for the Homeland Security Department, told a House subcommittee Tuesday that US VISIT has increased the number of people arrested on charges such as immigration violations, drug trafficking and fraud. Hutchinson later admitted, however, that no one has yet been detained or arrested on terrorism-related charges.

US VISIT was launched at 115 airports and 14 seaports on Jan. 5, and requires visitors with nonimmigrant visas to give border inspectors biometric information in the form of two fingerprints and a digital photo, along with their biographical and travel information. The information is entered into a database and compared to terrorist and criminal watch lists.

A homeland security official said Thursday that the system has resulted in 77 "hits" to date, meaning that the biometric information provided by a person registered with a criminal or terrorist watch list. US VISIT has resulted in the arrest of 20 confirmed criminals, according to the official.

For example, a citizen of El Salvador was arrested in New York City on Jan. 10 when the system determined that he previously had been convicted of killing a woman while drinking and driving. The person had been entering and leaving the country under a false identify despite outstanding warrants for his arrest.

A Peruvian citizen was arrested on Jan. 14 when a biometric check revealed that he was a convicted cocaine trafficker wanted for escaping from federal prison in 1984. He, too, had been entering and exiting the country using a fake identity.

"These are really bad people that should have been caught a long time ago, but we just never had the technology to do it," the Homeland Security official said. DHS provided lawmakers with a list of 10 successful examples of US VISIT at work from Jan. 5 to Jan. 26.

Some critics say, however, that the intent of US VISIT is vague. Hussein Ibish, communications director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the government has not clarified whether US VISIT is primarily a national security program or an immigration control program.

"I think, ultimately, the government has to be clear," Ibish said. "I don't see how agencies and enforcement officers on the ground can really do their job properly if they don't understand the basic purpose of the program."

According to Ibish, the government created other programs that were not very effective because they tried to do too much, such as the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System, which required aliens -- mostly students -- in the United States to re-register with the government.

"The government just can't point to any serious accomplishment on national security with immigration reforms, and I think that is something the public is being mislead about," Ibish said. "The general impression is that immigration and terrorism are linked and that one of the best ways to fight terrorism is through tough immigration policies, but the facts don't bear that out."

Other critics worry about how border inspectors will handle the increased workload created by US VISIT.

"We need more high-quality, well-trained individuals on the border," said Charles Showalter, a veteran immigrations inspector and vice president of the National Immigration and Naturalization Service Council, which is a member of the American Federation of Government Employees.

Showalter said US VISIT is a good program, but inspectors are swamped with work. For example, checking people against watch lists takes longer than the 15 seconds touted by homeland security officials, according to Showalter. As waiting lines grow longer, inspectors will be pressured to process people faster, he said. Also, if a person registers as appearing on a watch list, then inspectors have to spend time detaining, processing and possibly arresting that person.

The Customs and Border Protection agency is full of highly skilled and dedicated workers, Showalter said, but has a high turnover rate because employees are underpaid.

"It's not the tool that gets the job done, it's the individual officer that gets the job done," he said.