 Foreign visitors arriving with visas at U.S. airports or seaports next year will have their travel documents scanned, their fingerprints and photos taken and their identification checked against terrorist watch lists. The system, which goes into effect Jan. 1, will check the comings and goings of foreign travelers who arrive in this country carrying visas.
Homeland Security Department undersecretary Asa Hutchinson said Monday such a system could have caught hijackers Mohammed Atta, who had overstayed his visa on a previous occasion, and Hani Hanjour, when he failed to show up at school as required by his student visa. "Border security can no longer be just a coastline, or a line on the ground between two nations. It's also a line of information in a computer, telling us who is in this country, for how long and for what reason," Hutchinson said. Congress has provided about 0 million for the new system, which will replace a paper-based system that been highly criticized since the Sept. 11 attacks. Under the U.S. VISIT system, a visa carrier will be required to provide immigrant and citizenship status, nationality, country of residence and an address where the visitor will be staying in the United States. When the visitor leaves, Hutchinson said, the system will verify the traveler's departure and identification. The system will later be enhanced, possibly to include iris scans or facial recognition technology, Hutchinson said.
(Agencies) | 明年开始，所有携签证到达美国各个机场或者海港的外国人都要接受一系列安全检查，其中包括扫描旅行护照、提取指纹和照片同恐怖分子名单对照以确认其身份。这套安全系统将于2004年1月份开始使用，用以检测所有带有护照的来往外国游客。 美国边境和运输安全部的副部长胡特金森5月19日说，如果当初使用这样一套系统，那么签证过期的9·11劫机者穆罕默德·阿塔和没能在学校出示学生签证的哈尼·汉珠尔就可以被制止了。 胡特金森说："边境安全不能再像现在这样仅仅是两国之间的一条海岸线或者地界这样简单。它还是电脑中的信息连线，告诉我们谁在这个国家中、为什么来、要逗留多久。" 美国国会已经在本财政年度中为这一新的安全系统拨款3.8亿美元，以便替换掉从前的仅靠纸上记录的系统。旧的系统因为未能在9·11事件前后发挥有效作用因而受到猛烈批评。 这套"造访安检系统"要求带有护照的外国造访者提供移民和公民身份证明、国籍、居住国家以及该旅客在美逗留期间的居住地址。 胡特金森说，当造访者离境后，该系统将对其是否真的离境和他的身份进行核实。 但是该系统还有待改进，可能还将增加眼球虹膜扫描或者面部辨认技术。
(中国日报网站译) |
Updated: 2003-05-21 01:00
