House withholds funds for US VISIT exit
The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee approved a bill that would nix any funding for the US VISIT exit program.
Now any foreign traveler entering the country has fingerprints collected and run through the US VISIT database to make sure they’re not on a watch list. The program has also been working on a solution to record when travelers leave the country as well.
One of the solutions proposed would be to have the airlines record when passengers left, but executives have not been happy with that solution. After the bill passed the Air Transport Association of America, an industry trade organization for the U.S. airlines, issued a following statement:
“We have been saying for more than one year that DHS has no legal authority to proceed with its proposal to saddle airlines with a requirement to collect fingerprints from foreign travelers departing the United States,” said ATA President and CEO James C. May.
The comment period on the exit portion of US VISIT is over on June 23. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/secureidnews-4.gif)
