New Scrutiny of Visitors Begins Smoothly

U.S. immigration authorities on Monday began electronically photographing and fingerprinting tens of thousands of foreign travelers at airports and seaports, including Miami International Airport, the latest layer in a growing dragnet designed to catch terrorists before they strike.

The program, launched at 115 airports and at cruise ship terminals at 14 seaports, including Miami and Port Everglades, is aimed at visitors who arrive in the United States on visas. It is designed to allow immigration authorities to quickly check if an arrival has a criminal background, is on a terror watch list or is using a false name.

Miami International Airport will be affected more than any other airfield in the nation because it is the largest gateway for visitors from Latin America and the Caribbean, almost all of whom need visas to enter the United States.

Of the 15 million travelers expected to be screened under the new program, 2.5 million will arrive in Miami.

At MIA and across the country the program appeared to go smoothly Monday with no significant delays reported, according to the Department of Homeland Security and airport officials.

''It didn't take too long, despite fears that we would be stuck in the line for hours,'' Claudia Ramirez, a Guatemalan visitor, said shortly after she arrived at MIA on Monday morning.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told reporters at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that the program, called U.S.-VISIT, would add 15 seconds to the entry process.

''Things have been going pretty well around the country,'' said Rick Webster, director of government affairs for the Travel Industry Association of America, a Washington-based trade organization. ``But then, obviously, it's the first day.''

Marc Henderson, an MIA spokesman, said he had not heard any complaints by Monday evening. Jim Reynolds, a spokesman at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said the program had caused ``zero delays. It's off to a good start.''

FEW MORE MINUTES

But some regular travelers to Miami did say they had to wait a bit longer than usual. Ana Lucia Rosales, who arrived Monday morning at MIA on a flight from Guatemala, said it took her 10 minutes to clear the immigration line, compared to about five minutes the last time she came here.

''It seemed to take longer than on other trips,'' she said.

Echoing the criticisms of terrorism experts, some arrivals to MIA said the program had a major loophole because it exempts visitors from 27 nations, mostly in Europe, for which a visa is not needed to enter the United States.

''What's the use of such a system that does not include everyone?'' said Selene Lizarraga, 21, a student arriving at MIA from Belize. ``There are terrorists from these countries that don't need a visa. So it's a gaping hole.''

All 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks arrived in the United States with visas and none was on any terror watch list when allowed entry.

But at least two terror suspects from visa-exempt countries have managed to board flights to the United States.

Zacarias Moussaoui, charged with conspiracy in the Sept. 11 terrorist plot, arrived in Chicago in February 2001 using his French passport. Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, boarded a Paris-Miami flight with a British passport in December 2001.

Federal immigration officials said the potential loophole should be closed on Oct. 26 when the United States begins requiring visa-exempt visitors to travel with machine-readable passports that can be matched to criminal or terror databases.

U.S.-VISIT, which stands for United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, requires a digital photograph and prints of the two index fingers. The fingerprints, taken on a biometric scanner, are checked to see if they match prints taken at consulates where visitors received their visas.

A passenger whose photograph or fingerprints raise suspicions will not be automatically denied entry but will be pulled out of regular immigration lines for further questioning.

SECURE DATA

Information gleaned by immigration authorities is supposed to be securely stored and made available only to authorized officials, although civil libertarians have expressed reservations.

''The US-VISIT program is... a large privacy violation waiting to happen,'' Timothy Edgar, an American Civil Liberties Union official, said in a statement.

The start of the program comes more than two weeks after the Bush administration put the nation on high alert for a terrorist attack. Since then several international flights from Britain, France and Mexico have been canceled because of security concerns.

The U.S.-VISIT program has already prompted Brazil to retaliate by imposing similar security measures on U.S. travelers.

The program was first tested at the Atlanta airport late last year, and the trial run turned up 21 people on the FBI's criminal watch list for crimes such as drug offense, rape and visa fraud, Ridge said.

FIVE QUESTIONED

Officials in Miami said a test of the program at MIA and the Fort Lauderdale airport since Dec. 22 had turned up five people -- two at MIA and three at Fort Lauderdale -- who tried to enter the country with false identities.

Thomas S. Winkowski, director of field operations at MIA's U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said US-VISIT will eventually include ATM-style kiosks for foreign travelers to register their departure.

Departure kiosks were being tested Monday at the Port of Miami-Dade and at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

By the end of this year, Ridge said the U.S.-VISIT program will be expanded to the nation's 50 busiest land crossing points.

''Our doors remain open to those who love America,'' Ridge said in Atlanta. ``And yet, [US-VISIT] pulls the welcome mat from terrorists and all those who seek this nation and its people harm.''