The U.S. Department of Homeland Security yesterday proposed a rule that would require airlines and cruise lines to collect fingerprints from non-U.S. citizens exiting the country, drawing criticism from airline industry associations.
The proposed rule would require airlines and cruise lines to collect the information and send it to DHS within 24 hours of leaving the country. The department plans to install the procedures by January 2009 and said in a statement that, should the procedures not be in place by June 30, 2009, "the department may not be able to extend Visa Waiver Program privileges to new countries."
DHS intends to publish a final rule following a 60-day comment period.
DHS estimates an average recurring cost to carriers of $313 million per year, with an average first-year cost of $283 million.
"It is unreasonable to expect the airlines to shoulder this financial burden, especially at a time when they are facing staggering fuel increases, maintenance costs, and other rising expenses," Susan Gurley executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, said in a prepared statement. "It is likely that the price of this rulemaking would be passed directly onto the traveler. It is equally unreasonable to drop a $300 million travel cost increase in the form of security surcharges or additional ticket taxes onto business travelers, whose companies are already struggling to sustain current travel levels."
Airline groups stated that shifting the responsibility of collecting data from the government to the suppliers is not the right approach.
"Border protection and immigration are government responsibilities," Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of the International Air Transport Association, said in a prepared statement. "Airline counter staff are not a substitute for trained border patrol officers and outsourcing exit formalities to airlines is not a responsible approach."
The Air Transport Association of America, the commercial airline trade group, issued a statement saying, "The airlines believe, like Congress, that the collection of biometric information to satisfy the requirements for US-VISIT Exit is the responsibility of the federal government, not the private sector. This is an industry in crisis, and adding the Department of Homeland Security $3.5 billion proposal—which we have every reason to believe, from experience, will actually be higher—on top of the financial burdens airlines already bear is unconscionable."
However, the Travel Industry Association yesterday issued a statement supporting the implementation an exit system as quickly as possible.
"A stalemate between government and airlines—which threatens to end expansion of the Visa Waiver Program in 2009—is not an acceptable outcome," TIA president and CEO Roger Dow said in the statement. "Therefore, TIA will rally the travel community to support the quick implementation of a biometric air exit plan that meets homeland security goals and does not add new burdens to an already challenging air travel process."
Foreign visitors with visas entering the United States already are required to submit fingerprints
(BTNonline, Jan. 4, 2004). DHS in 2006 required countries in the Visa Waiver Program to issue e-passports with biometric identifiers
(BTNonline, Nov. 6, 2006).
"We've built an effective entry system, and combined with the proposed exit system, we'll have made a quantum leap in America's border security," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a prepared statement.