The airline industries’ financial woes are giving lobbyists more ammunition to oppose a plan to collect fingerprints from visitors departing the United States.
Last year, the Department of Homeland Security’s US-VISIT program announced that airlines and cruise ship operators will have to collect biometric data from foreign visitors when they are checking in for their trips.
DHS has tried for years to figure out ways to make sure that those who enter the United States depart when their visas expire. Prior to 9/11, there was no infrastructure in place for officials to stamp the passports of those who were departing.
DHS attempted several pilot programs, including self-service kiosks at airports, but these efforts flopped.
The solution in the process of being implemented would have airlines and cruise ship operators gather this data and pass it along to DHS. Department officials are currently in the process of writing rules.
Most foreign nationals are now required to submit digital fingerprints when entering the United States. The Implementing the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 requires that DHS begin collecting departure data by January 2009.
Of course, the airlines strongly oppose this idea on the grounds that it will cost them money to implement.
John Meenan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Air Transport Association, said DHS is violating the principle that it would “do no harm.”
“One example that comes immediately to mind is the Department of Homeland Security’s bizarre, and we believe unlawful, effort to force airlines to assume the DHS responsibility for collecting fingerprint data from departing foreign visitors,” he told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
“Congress has made it quite clear that federal government is responsible for the US-VISIT-Air Exit program,” he added.
Airlines are struggling with soaring fuel prices, he said. The industry has lost 31,000 jobs and removed 700 aircraft from service this year.
He asked members of the committee “to understand the limits of industry resources.”
In a separate border, maritime and global counterterrorism subcommittee hearing, US-VISIT director Robert Mocny faced questions from lawmakers who seemed sympathetic to the airlines’ plight.
When asked what DHS would do if Congress were to pass legislation that would torpedo the proposal, he didn’t have a clear answer.
“We don’t have a contingency plan,” he responded.