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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 20, 2003

US to Launch Foreigner-tracking System Next Year at Borders

The United States will use photo, fingerprints, and travel document scans at its airports or seaports next year to check foreign visitors in order to prevent terrorists from entering the country, a senior homeland security official said Monday.


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The United States will use photo, fingerprints, and travel document scans at its airports or seaports next year to check foreign visitors in order to prevent terrorists from entering the country, a senior homeland security official said Monday.

The system, known as US Visitor and Immigration Status Indication Technology, or US VISIT, will check foreign travelers when they enter or leave the United States, said Homeland Security Department Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson.

In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Hutchinson said such a system could have caught two of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers. Mohammed Atta had overstayed his visa on a previous occasion and Hani Hanjour failed to show up at school as required by his student visa.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced last month thatthe government would phase in the system at airports and seaports late this year. The system will replace a controversial paper-based system effective since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Americans and travelers not required to have visas to enter theUnited States will not be subject to the US VISIT system.

As part of the new system, the Homeland Security Department hascreated an office to analyze all the information collected from visitors and refer cases requiring follow-up to investigators.


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