Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

US Coast Guard takes fingerprints of illegal immigrants
11-14-2006

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): The US Coast Guard is taking pictures and fingerprints of all illegal immigrants it stops between Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to better identify unwanted people, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday.

Amid a lack reliable identification documents, the data gathered by the Coast Guard will be cross-referenced with the US-VISIT program, which gathers immigration data from US airports and border crossings.

The resulting data bank will help immigration agents turn away people who have criminal records abroad, and arrest those who are sought by US authorities or who have already tried to cross or stay illegally in the country, officials said.

"The Coast Guards comparison of biometrics collected at sea to those collected through the US-VISIT program will greatly enhance our ability to intercept those who pose a threat to national security," said Robert Mocny, acting director of the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) office.