DHS plans US-VISIT exit procedures

More confusion for the US-VISIT program, three months after GAO hammered it for failing to develop proper exit procedures — procedures mandated by law to use biometrics to verify the identity of those leaving the country by land. “Faced with mounting congressional pressure,” Government Executive reported, DHS yesterday announced said procedures, at least for air and sea exits. The strategy, an internal document explained, is to rely on “the existing international visitor-departure process to minimize the effect on visitors and to ensure seamless biometric collection regardless of the visitor’s departure point.” All told, DHS will spend $27 million on such systems, and there are contracting possibilities: “US-VISIT will also consider issuing a request for information for additional scanning devices that would combine the collection of biometrics with a full-page passport scanner,” the plan noted.

The agency was forced to admit, however, that it does not have much of any plan to monitor land exits, although it is required under the law to install such a system. “Because of the immense scope and complexity of the land border, biometric exit information cannot be practically based on biometric validation in the short term,” the plan explained. “Instead, [DHS] will initially seek to match records using biographic information in instances where no current collection exists today.” We wish them all the best of luck, but we are not optimistic. As the GAO report noted, the land exit problem is just one of three critical failngs. If DHS cannot manage the first, the other two — a lack of operational context for the US-VISIT program in relation to other immigration programs like the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative; and an increased expenditure in program management but a reduction in increasing program capability — seem all the more daunting.