Anti Federalist
05-23-2013, 03:22 PM
Hear that sound?
That's the hinges squeaking as the doors close.
Senate panel OKs plan to fingerprint people leaving U.S.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/20/senate-immigration-biometric-system/2327697/
All foreigners departing from the nation's 10 busiest airports will have to have their fingerprints scanned within two years, according to a plan adopted by a Senate panel Monday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has been debating a sweeping immigration bill to overhaul the nation's immigration laws for three weeks now, and properly securing the nation's borders has been a time-consuming, rigorous debate throughout.
Republicans on the committee, led by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., spent much time last week pushing for a nationwide program to collect the "biometric" data of people leaving the U.S., such as fingerprints and iris scans. They want that system to better track so-called "visa overstays" -- people who enter the country legally but remain in the county after their visas expire. That group makes up about 40% of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the country.
"If you're a sovereign nation, you've got to control your borders. That's what other countries do," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during Monday's debate.
That plan was voted down last week when Democrats, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said it was too expensive and too complicated. She and others worried that failure to develop the system, which the government has been unable to implement despite congressional mandates dating back to 2001, would prevent the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants from being able to apply for green cards and U.S. citizenship.
Feinstein said she fully supports a "biometric" program but argued that the current system of collecting "biographic" information, such as names and dates of birth, when people leave the country has been successful enough.
But on Monday, Feinstein and others on the committee agreed to a scaled-down proposal from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Under the plan, which was adopted on a 13-5 vote, the Department of Homeland Security would be required to:
•Implement a biometric exit system at the 10 U.S. airports with the highest volume of international travelers within two years. Those will be international airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
•Implement a biometric exit system at the 30 busiest airports within six years.
•Create a plan to implement a biometric exit system at "major" sea and land ports within six years.
Feinstein, who chairs the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, called Hatch's compromise a responsible response to the complaints raised during the border security debate.
"It really shows that people have listened to the discussion here," she said.
The committee also debated and adopted dozens of amendments on a wide variety of topics Monday, including a proposal by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to allow people who are applying for visas based on the fact that they are victims of domestic violence or human trafficking to work while their applications are being processed. Leahy argued that those victims should be able to "provide for themselves" as they wait for their visas.
The committee also agreed to an amendment by Feinstein that will provide 5,000 visas over three years for displaced people from Tibet. Grassley said the fact that the amendment "irritates China" was an added bonus.
Several proposals were adopted that deal with how the federal government treats children in the immigration system.
The committee approved an amendment by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to limit the use of solitary confinement for children and adults with mental disabilities. It also adopted an amendment by Feinstein to train Border Patrol agents to interview children they encounter to help them identify child trafficking rings. And it adopted a proposal by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., that creates a system to help families affected by immigration detention, including granting phone calls to parents to arrange care for their children and enlisting child welfare services to assist.
Another Blumenthal amendment was adopted that limits the ability of federal officials to enforce immigration laws at "sensitive locations," including hospitals, public and private schools and religious centers.
That's the hinges squeaking as the doors close.
Senate panel OKs plan to fingerprint people leaving U.S.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/20/senate-immigration-biometric-system/2327697/
All foreigners departing from the nation's 10 busiest airports will have to have their fingerprints scanned within two years, according to a plan adopted by a Senate panel Monday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has been debating a sweeping immigration bill to overhaul the nation's immigration laws for three weeks now, and properly securing the nation's borders has been a time-consuming, rigorous debate throughout.
Republicans on the committee, led by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., spent much time last week pushing for a nationwide program to collect the "biometric" data of people leaving the U.S., such as fingerprints and iris scans. They want that system to better track so-called "visa overstays" -- people who enter the country legally but remain in the county after their visas expire. That group makes up about 40% of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the country.
"If you're a sovereign nation, you've got to control your borders. That's what other countries do," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during Monday's debate.
That plan was voted down last week when Democrats, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said it was too expensive and too complicated. She and others worried that failure to develop the system, which the government has been unable to implement despite congressional mandates dating back to 2001, would prevent the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants from being able to apply for green cards and U.S. citizenship.
Feinstein said she fully supports a "biometric" program but argued that the current system of collecting "biographic" information, such as names and dates of birth, when people leave the country has been successful enough.
But on Monday, Feinstein and others on the committee agreed to a scaled-down proposal from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Under the plan, which was adopted on a 13-5 vote, the Department of Homeland Security would be required to:
•Implement a biometric exit system at the 10 U.S. airports with the highest volume of international travelers within two years. Those will be international airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
•Implement a biometric exit system at the 30 busiest airports within six years.
•Create a plan to implement a biometric exit system at "major" sea and land ports within six years.
Feinstein, who chairs the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, called Hatch's compromise a responsible response to the complaints raised during the border security debate.
"It really shows that people have listened to the discussion here," she said.
The committee also debated and adopted dozens of amendments on a wide variety of topics Monday, including a proposal by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to allow people who are applying for visas based on the fact that they are victims of domestic violence or human trafficking to work while their applications are being processed. Leahy argued that those victims should be able to "provide for themselves" as they wait for their visas.
The committee also agreed to an amendment by Feinstein that will provide 5,000 visas over three years for displaced people from Tibet. Grassley said the fact that the amendment "irritates China" was an added bonus.
Several proposals were adopted that deal with how the federal government treats children in the immigration system.
The committee approved an amendment by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to limit the use of solitary confinement for children and adults with mental disabilities. It also adopted an amendment by Feinstein to train Border Patrol agents to interview children they encounter to help them identify child trafficking rings. And it adopted a proposal by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., that creates a system to help families affected by immigration detention, including granting phone calls to parents to arrange care for their children and enlisting child welfare services to assist.
Another Blumenthal amendment was adopted that limits the ability of federal officials to enforce immigration laws at "sensitive locations," including hospitals, public and private schools and religious centers.