Illegal Migrants Are Easily Detected Thanks to Biometrics

The issue on illegal migrants has always been a huge concern of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Because of constant threats by terrorism and many other scenarios, there has been a need to actively control the migration of foreigners on American soil. From 2006 to 2007, the DHS performed a collection of biometrics data from over 1,300 migrants. Of this number, 90 of them have been prosecuted because of illegal migration. The DHS proudly announced that the biometrics system has been effective and has helped reduce illegal migration in areas of the country near the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

The biometrics program basically involves the management fingerprint database collected from migrants. This was a joint effort of the US Coast Guard, who secures the country’s coastline as a preventive measure against illegal migration, and the US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT), which collects and keeps the biometric data. In this regard, whenever the US Coast Guard apprehends suspected illegal migrants, they can immediately determine the status of such migrants, whether they are illegal or have any criminal records.

How are they able to do this? Once the suspected illegal migrants are in custody, the US Coast Guard gathers their fingerprints and compares them with existing database entries from US-VISIT. They can then immediately identify any violators of immigration laws, wanted criminals, or those migrants who have been already tagged by the authorities, due to previous offenses. This project is said to be a milestone for the Coast Guard, since this will be the first time they will be technologically equipped and given access to information that can easily identify illegal migrants.

The Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and US-VISIT were not alone in undertaking this project. The results of this successful program were made possible thanks to the collaborative efforts of other agencies such as the US Attorney’s Office in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the US Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Customs and Border Protection, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

This effort spearheaded by the DHS is only one of many that have been established to better secure the nation and protect it from threats of terrorism. As of 2007, the DHS also boasts how the biometrics program has reduced the number of illegal migrants to almost half, in the most closely monitored regions in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.