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Re: Millions of Mexicans entering U.S
Fri Mar 5 17:43:49 2004
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Source:
San Francisco Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/

Millions of Mexicans entering U.S. will be exempted from fingerprinting, photographs
http://tinyurl.com/yubh7

SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, March 4, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP)
The Bush administration will back off plans to require that visa-carrying Mexicans who make short visits to America and stay close to the border be fingerprinted and photographed, The Associated Press has learned.

The move is a concession to Mexican President Vicente Fox, who begins a two-day visit to President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Friday.

A congressional official who was briefed Thursday by the Homeland Security Department said the administration will not require the fingerprints and photographs at the border. The official spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

During testimony before a congressional panel, Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security's undersecretary for border and transportation, would only say the idea was under consideration. However, afterward he told reporters, "I think that is what probably will be necessary."

Agustin Gutierrez Canet, a spokesman for Fox, called the development "a friendly and positive gesture toward Mexico."

Mexicans make millions of quick trips across the border each year. In San Diego alone, more than 165,000 people enter from Mexico each day.

Those who have so-called laser visas currently are allowed to stay in the country three days provided they stay close to the border. Such visas are issued to people who have undergone background checks and consulate interviews where they are fingerprinted and photographed. The visas generally are held by workers and people who need to make frequent quick trips across the border.

As part of the new US-VISIT program, those people were to be fingerprinted and photographed before crossing the border starting sometime before the end of the year.

Mexican border officials and officials in U.S. border communities feared that could lead to long delays or prompt fewer people to enter the country. Either scenario would hurt local economies that rely on a steady flow of visitors.

US-VISIT was developed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to ensure that people on terrorist watch lists and other criminals don't get into the country. The first part of it took effect in January and requires that visitors from certain countries traveling on visas and entering at 115 major airports and 14 seaports be fingerprinted and photographed.

The program will be added to the 50 busiest land ports later this year. Fox was upset that under the expanded plan, Mexicans would be photographed and fingerprinted before entering the United States, while Canadians would not.

As part of the revised plan, the government will install machines that can read the electronic information in the laser visas at the 50 busiest land ports. The machines are at only a handful of border points as of now.

Nearly 360 million travelers entered the United States at all the nation's land ports of entry in 2002.

A program to log foreigners' departures also is being developed.
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Searched news for Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security. Results 1 - 10 of about 495

Laser visas may cut red tape

Web Posted: 03/05/2004 12:00 AM CST

Bonnie Pfister
Express-News Business Writer

Mexican citizens who cross regularly into South Texas may be exempted from a controversial proposal requiring extra scrutiny of foreign citizens, a top Homeland Security official said Thursday.

Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson recommended Mexican laser-visa holders be exempted from the planned US-VISIT checks at land border crossings, but stopped short of making a policy change.

That fueled speculation President Bush might announce the exemption during a meeting at his Crawford ranch this weekend with Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Testifying before a U.S. House of Representatives committee, Hutchinson said no decision had been made. But when pressed, he said he supported the exemption because laser-visas holders already are adequately screened before being granted permission for three days of tourist travel within the 25-mile border zone.

Speaking on background later, a Homeland Security official said a decision is imminent.

Formally known as the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, the program subsumes some earlier immigration laws to mandate high-tech checks on foreigners, both coming and going.

The entry-only program went into effect Jan. 5 at 14 seaports and 115 airports, including San Antonio International Airport.

Exit checking is being piloted at BWI Airport in Baltimore and Miami's seaport.

The exit-entry program is to begin at the 50 busiest land crossings next January.

Under US-VISIT, travelers are digitally fingerprinted and photographed. That data is immediately matched to previously filed information. About two dozen nations are exempted, including most European countries, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Canada.

Hutchinson's argument Thursday echoed that of border officials — that Mexico's 8 million laser-visa holders are adequately scrutinized already. U.S. Consular officials grant the visas, or border crossing cards, only after a one-on-one interview.

Applicants must provide proof of economic stability in Mexico through utility bills and paycheck receipts, have family ties to U.S. residents and be able to afford the $100 processing fee.

Such an exemption would be a ray of hope to border business leaders, who forecast an economic and logistical doomsday if entry-exit inspections begin as planned.

Land border crossings still are 14 percent lower than in the fiscal year that ended September 2001, the month that terror attacks tightened security at all U.S. ports of entry.

But members of the Association of South Texas Communities, which includes Laredo-based International Bank of Commerce and the McAllen Economic Development Corp., said Thursday they are still worried.

So too are Alamo City business and civic leaders, who fear border confusion will curtail San Antonio-bound Mexican tourists who pump an estimated half-billion dollars in to the local economy annually.

For example, during December's "Orange Alert," border-crossing times stretched up to 12 hours.

"People just turned their Suburbans around and went back to Monterrey," said Free Trade Alliance San Antonio President Blake Hastings. He fears US-VISIT could create a similar scenario.

And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who has introduced legislation that would extend laser-visa holders' stay to six months to put them on par with their Canadian counterparts, said the exemption still would not be sufficient.

The South Texas association commissioned an economic impact study by Texas A&M International University on possible loss of cross-border shoppers. In the event of a 10 percent decline, for example, the study found the Texas border could see a loss of $759 million in sales, with 68,000 people losing their jobs.

Some association members, however, say those predictions weren't sufficiently dire, and have hired popular Waco-based economist Ray Perryman to conduct further research. A General Account Office study is also about to get under way.

On Monday, about 100 San Antonio business leaders will head to Washington for three days of lobbying during the annual "S.A. to D.C." visit. An 11-member team including some border residents will push to delay full land port implementation until single border port can first be tested for possible delays.

Martha Lara, Mexican consul general in San Antonio, welcomed Hutchinson's words, although they fall short of her government's goal — for Mexicans to share the same rights as Canadians.

bpfister@express-news.net

Staff Writer Hernán Rozemberg contributed to this report.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA05.01A.usvisit_0305.34a028cc.html