South Florida Tourism Officials Worried About New Tracking Systemfor Foreign Visitors

S. Florida Tourism Officials Worried About New Tracking System for Foreign 
Visitors
Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, FL

Posted January 2 2004 

South Florida airports and tourism officials are warily awaiting Monday's start 
of a new federal tracking system that requires all visa-holding visitors to be 
fingerprinted and photographed when they arrive in U.S. ports.

When the program is complete, this latest tool in the war on terror will allow 
authorities at 115 U.S. airports and 42 major seaports to check the identities 
of travelers against those on terrorist watch lists and track visitors who have 
overstayed their visas.
 
The Department of Homeland Security says the system will only add 10 to 15 
seconds to the time it takes to screen passengers. But airport officials, 
pointing to the long lines at checkpoints, are not so sure.

In South Florida, the impact will be greatest at Miami International Airport, 
where almost half of its 31 million passengers fly on international flights.

"It all depends on the responsiveness of the system," said Angela Gittens, 
director of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, which oversees Miami 
International Airport.

"The question is, will the system capacity allow quick response once all these 
airports are on."

An estimated 24 million travelers coming to the United States will pass through 
the system each year.

Dubbed US-Visit for United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator 
Technology, the program doesn't apply to U.S. citizens or to citizens of 
countries where a U.S. visa is not needed for entry, such as Canada, Australia, 
England and Japan.

It consists of a small box that digitally scans fingerprints and a spherical 
computer camera that snaps pictures.

Most international travelers said the extra process wasn't a burden during 
tests last week at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Tests at Atlanta's 
Hartsfield International Airport have also gone smoothly, according to Homeland 
Security officials.

Inspectors have been able to keep the additional screening within reach of the 
10-second goal, said Kimberly Weissman, spokeswoman for Customs and Border 
Protection.

"Obviously the goal is not to significantly impact wait times," she said. "So 
after Jan. 5 we will monitor this to make sure we're not impeding the flow of 
normal traffic and again balance that with our national security goals."

In September, the U.S. General Accounting Office called the $7 billion program 
"a very risky endeavor" with high costs and details that had yet to be worked 
out.

It also said the program could lead to longer lines at the nation's ports of 
entry.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is taking a wait-and-see 
approach.

"The jury is out on that," said Jim Reynolds, an airport spokesman. "If they 
are able to do it as quickly as they told us, it probably is not going to be a 
major problem."

Palm Beach International Airport doesn't expect any problems because it doesn't 
handle many international flights.

"We don't foresee any delays for our travelers," said spokeswoman Lisa De La 
Rionda.

Local tourism officials worry it could discourage Latin American travelers, for 
whom visas are required, from coming to South Florida.

William Talbert, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Miami 
Visitors and Convention Bureau, said tourism officials have been alarmed since 
the program was unveiled in October.

About 96 percent of Miami's visitors arrive by air and 50 percent come from 
foreign countries, Talbert said.

"We understand the security concerns," Talbert said. "But this has to do with 
jobs and economic development in our region. If people don't come, it means 
jobs. People will be out of work if visitors don't come."

Talbert said officials will watch the program closely.

"Everyone is hoping there will be no undue delays. But as with any of these 
things, it usually goes the other way," he said. "It ends up being more 
cumbersome than they planned."

Congress first mandated an entry-exit system to electronically track visitors 
in a 1996 law.

Only after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks did the plan gain momentum and 
requirements to collect "biometric" data such as fingerprints and digital 
photographs.

Four of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers overstayed visas, according to government 
officials.

Others obtained student visas but never attended the schools. This summer 
another tracking system went online to monitor student visa compliance.

What immigration officials immediately do with the new tracking information 
remains to be seen.

The system will not be complete until the end of 2004, when self-serve kiosks 
are placed at airports for visa-holding travelers to check themselves out by 
scanning their documents and providing their fingerprints.

That's of concern at Miami International Airport, because of the volume of 
people traveling on international flights.

"Miami is a special situation because we essentially have international 
outbound on every concourse. That's unusual," said Gittens. "Where exactly are 
you going to put these kiosks and how are people going to know they're there 
and where are people going to queue up, and how's it all going to work?"

Once the exit system is in place, inspectors should be able to quickly identify 
past violations when a visitor tries to re-enter the United States.

"This will basically give us a better accounting of when an individual arrives 
in the United States and when the individual departs. So we will have overstay 
information," Weissman said.

According to the General Accounting Office, far more visa overstays occur than 
the 2.3 million immigration officials estimated in 2000.

Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be breaking 
new ground if they start going after these overstays.

And they will, in new designated units, said spokesman Garrison Courtney. Some 
critics doubt that 2,000 immigration agents, even with the addition of 3,500 
cross-trained customs agents, will get very far in the effort. Already there 
are 400,000 immigrants with outstanding final deportation orders.

But Courtney says that 30 fugitive units were recently created to target those 
with final orders and that the next new batch of units will prioritize which 
visa overstays to go after first, like people with criminal records. The new 
security program will make that possible, he said.

"The system allows us to know where the people are," he said. "Before, we 
wouldn't have even known they left."
 
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