US fingerprint plan for travellers blasted
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Airlines in the US are protesting a government plan that would require them to take fingerprints of foreign travellers as they fly out of the US, saying it could create massive lines at airport check-in counters, a USA Today report said.
According to the report, the US Congress wanted the 33 million foreigners a year coming into U.S. airports be fingerprinted when they arrive and leave the country but did not specify who should take the prints.
The Homeland Security Department, which fingerprints foreigners coming into U.S. airports now, wants airlines to be responsible for taking fingerprints as these travellers leave.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged the White House to kill the plan, the report said.
“This is a government function, not to be outsourced to the private sector,” Ken Dunlap, security chief for IATA North America, was quoted saying.
Robert Mocny, who heads the fingerprint programme, was quoted saying that fingerprinting helped track those whose visas had expired and allowed monitoring of people whose movements in and out of the US suggested terrorist plotting.
Comments are closed.