US:THE US airline industry, the EU, and 34 countries, including Ireland, are urging the US government to withdraw a plan that would require airlines and cruise lines to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart from the US, starting in August 2009.
Their opposition could trigger a battle with Congress and the Bush administration, which want the new plan established quickly.
Airlines said the change would cost the industry $12.3 billion (€7.94 billion) over 10 years, not $3.5 billion as the department of homeland security estimated in April.
Representatives of the nations affected said it is the duty of the US government, not private companies, to enforce immigration and border security laws, and they raised privacy concerns about companies collecting fingerprints.
"This proposal to outsource the core government function of border control at a time that airlines around the world are fighting for their economic survival is both unwarranted and counterproductive," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association.
The plan to track exiting foreign visitors is part of a programme known as US-Visit, an initiative that Congress first promoted in 1996 and launched after 9/11 to use fingerprints and digital photographs to automate the processing of visitors entering and leaving the country. For security reasons, US officials have put a priority on identifying incoming visitors. Setting up systems to record exits is much more costly but still can help enforce immigration laws and track security risks.
Clive Wright, a senior British embassy official in Washington, wrote on behalf of 34 governments, saying they "are seriously concerned" about the new fingerprint mandate for private companies. He argued that the requirements pose privacy, liability and business risks to airlines far more costly and difficult than any issues they now face in handling immigration issues.
The programme has recorded images and fingerprints of nearly 100 million people entering the country since 2004. It has helped find criminals and deter potential terrorists, Homeland Security officials say.
Supporters in Congress also see the programme as a way to determine whether people are overstaying their visas and joining the nation's illegal immigrant population. -