U.S. starts fingerprint program

[frogfromthenorth2]

SNIP

"The new program covers those overseas visitors who are required to have a visa to enter the United States -- an estimated 24 million people a year.

Outside of Europe, the exempt countries include Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Brunei. Citizens of Canada generally do not need a visa to enter the United States. "

SNIP

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/01/05/fingerprint.program/index.html

[frogfromthenorth2]

1. The day they ask me for my fingerprints when I cross the border

to go from Quebec to Lake Champlain, Vermont is the day I decide to never set foot again in your beautiful but screwed up country.

[Bonobo]

2. Ouch, that hurt but I can understand why you say that.

My wife is a foreign national. What do I tell my kids when they see their mommy fingerprinted and mug-shot like a criminal...blech, bad taste...gonna wash my mouth out

[GRClarkesq]

7. If she is an LPR

she will not be fingerprinted.

[frogfromthenorth2]

12. Yep... It's gonna be a sad year if nobody kicks out the Bush admin.

in November!

[GRClarkesq]

4. You are not fingerprinted under current program

but maybe someday.

[McHrozni]

3. A sad day for democracy indeed. Officialy, I've been in Spain since 1999

[FreakinDJ]

5. Anglos are not terrorist ?

don't need to finger print those of Anglo descent?

Racist as usual, what would you expect from this administration

[toopers]

13. Just out of interest,

when was the last time a European blew up a building in the US?

[R Hickey]

15. Timithy Mc Vie and his co-conspirators were Euro-Americans

-

[The Stranger]

16. Just out of interest,

would it be reported as "Terrorism" or dismissed as common crime?

I seem to recall an Eastern European allegedly hijacking a bus with boxcutters, a Florida teenager crashing a private plane into a high rise, and individuals from East Texas allegedly in possession of weapons of mass destruction -- yet none of this was given the "Terrorism" headline.

[toopers]

17. to you and R Hickey

None of the incidents sited were committed by a European. Now, they may have been of European decent, but I believe they were all born in the US! Try again.

[The Stranger]

18. Wrong, troopers.

At least one of the incidents cited was allegedly carried out by "a Croatian illegal immigrant." Croatia, in case you didn't know, is in Europe. In fact, it happened less than one month after 9-11 and was allegedly committed with a "razor or boxcutter."

Everybody refers to yesterday's incident in Tennessee in which a Croatian illegal immigrant nonfatally slashed the throat of a Greyhound bus driver with a razor or box cutter, which led to the bus rolling over, killing the assailant and five other passengers. The Justice Department says the episode does not appear to have been linked in any way to the Sept. 11 attacks and wasn't a terrorist plot but rather the action of a lone deranged person.

Slate, October 4, 2001.

http://slate.msn.com/id/1008395/

Now, were you saying something?

[Atman]

6. What the hell are Visas and Passports for

if not to track who comes and goes in our country? Those who can't see this for the naked power grab/big brotherism that it is deserve to be data-mined.

[sweetheart]

8. brazil fingerprints american citizens in reciprocity

Ain't it great, pretty soon americans will be screwed everywhere.

[Just Me]

9. Yup, "tit for tat",...

,...we are just engaging in further isolationism, which is EXACTLY what the PNAC calls for. Thing is, the only possible way all the information produced by such a new-fangled procedure (which is totally off the cliff, in my view) is by hugely expanding our intelligence services (or, of course, paying a bloody fortune for outsourcing). Once again, who profits most from all this.

[omshanti]

10. this is ridiculous... my family is reconsidering coming to visit me

And I am re-considering leaving the country for fear of being harrassed when I come back in (even though my immigration status is PERFECTLY LEGAL and I have done nothing wrong, I feel 'hunted').
What a load of crap. THey already have our photos and fingerprints on file (Through the visas and passports). Now we all have to be treated like criminals?

[beanball]

11. People of colour/color

this is just another racist policy by a racist regime.

[loudnclear]

14. I think other countries should fingerprint all foreigners too...including

American. Might keep some of those nasty little spies out their coutnries.

[Art_from_Ark]

19. The first resident alien card I had in Japan

had my fingerprint prominently displayed on it. My second RA card came with a plastic cover that conveniently hid the fingerprint when the card was sheathed in the cover. My current RA card has no fingerprint at all.

[AromaticSocks]

20. I just hope those against fingerprinting are also against gun registration

There is NO difference.

[frogfromthenorth2]

22. Yeah right.... The second amendment "crap" argument...

So damn stupid....

[are_we_united_yet]

21. Contrasted by the US fingerpointing program

which has been wellestablished