U.S. Expands Controversial Border Program

Canadians Still Exempt From Security Measures

[CanWest News Service]

Canadians are now among the few travellers in the world exempt from a controversial Bush administration program that requires visitors to be fingerprinted and photographed when entering the United States.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Friday it was adding 27 more countries -- including key allies such as Britain, Ireland, Italy and Australia -- to the list of nations whose citizens will have to register with the US-VISIT program.

"The only exceptions would be the Canadians, border-crossing cardholders for Mexican citizens and then diplomats that are exempted from international agreements," said Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary of homeland security.

"In reference to Canadian citizens, there's some difference in terms of the concern about international passengers flying international aircraft coming to the United States, versus most of the Canadian citizens not travelling in that fashion."

The expansion of the US-VISIT program comes just three months after it was launched in January as a security measure aimed at catching potential terrorists and criminals trying to enter the country.

Initially, the program only applied to nations whose citizens required visitor visas to travel inside the U.S.

But it will now include citizens of countries which have visa-waiver agreements with the U.S., allowing them to visit the country for up to 90 days without a visa. It is expected the program will now impact a total of

32 Million Visitors a Year

Hutchinson dismissed concerns of possible delays and confusion at airports, saying registration takes only seconds to complete.

The Bush administration said it was forced to add the so-called "visa-waiver countries" to the program because they will be unable to meet an Oct. 26 deadline to have biometrically secure passports.

The fingerprint information collected by U.S. customs officers will be checked against terrorist watch lists and an international database of criminals.

Canada and the U.S. have separate rules governing cross-border travel. Canadians are not required to carry passports to enter the U.S.

"There is a distinction (with Canada)," Hutchinson said. "Obviously we've had a traditional relationship, a very open border with Canada."

Canadians who have visas fixed in their passports allowing them to work and live in the U.S. will be required to register with US-VISIT starting this fall.

Landed immigrants to Canada must also be fingerprinted and photographed.

Mexicans allowed to work in the U.S. with 72-hour border-crossing cards are also exempt from US-VISIT, but they face background and security checks before they are awarded the cards.

When US-VISIT was first launched, the program created an uproar among the affected nations. Several countries argued that US-VISIT would do little to protect America from terrorism but would compromise privacy rights of travellers. Brazil immediately began fingerprinting U.S. visitors in retaliation.