The United States is continuously coming up with measures on how to eradicate the rampant problem of illegal immigration in the country. There are many accounts that prove illegal immigrants come to the US holding valid visas but never left and instead, they try to survive without legal documents that can allow them to work or gain access to health care benefits and other federal privileges.
Currently the US Department of Homeland Security is implementing a US VISIT (Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) program. The US VISIT program aims to verify information about the visitor coming to the US. It collects not only the usual identification details like name, birth date, nationality and the likes but also takes the visitor’s photo and biometric fingerprints. Biometric fingerprints are unique features of a person which cannot be duplicated or tampered with. Using this program, before a non-US citizen enters any US port of entry, his identification marks are compared with a database of people on the watch list or believed to be terrorists. It also confirms the identity of the visa holder as against the real person the visa was issued to.
The US VISIT program is an initial barrier for foreigners and immigrants with criminal records attempting to enter the country and possibly do illegal things while inside the state. However, it only solves one part of the problem on this aspect. Many believe that a visitor monitoring system or a US exit system is equally necessary to know if the visitor indeed left the country and as well as to counter illegal immigrants from proliferating.
Lawmakers are now seeking for a US exit system that can verify if a foreign visitor has overstayed in the US. This is going to be vital if the country will adhere to its goal of tracking its visitors, especially those on temporary visas, and pinpoint who among them are going beyond their given time of stay in the US. Information should be gathered upon exit of the foreign national. His/her digital biometric fingerprint or eye scan is proposed to be collected for this purpose. The problem now is that there are no strong talks between the government and the airline companies on how to implement such system. In addition, there are also sea and land borders to consider.
In the next coming days, weeks or months, there is definitely going to be a more solid stand on this issue from both the government and the concerned agencies or industries. The implementation of an exit program will benefit not only the US immigration system but other countries as well. They can leverage on the success this program can achieve and implement the same on their countries.
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