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U.S. considers facial recognition, eye scans at border
DHS proposes to spend billions of dollars collecting fingerprints and eye scans from all foreign travelers at U.S. airports as they leave the country; already, the United States demands biometric data, typically fingerprints and digital photos, from arriving air and sea travelers with visas; the aim is to try to ensure the person matches the individual who was given the visa overseas. Canadians and Mexicans are currently exempt
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Problems continue for virtual U.S.-Mexico border fence
With most of the 661-mile border fence complete, DHS is gearing up for testing a section of the fence near Tuscon; if the system survives this first round, it will be handed off to the Border Patrol in early 2010, who will put the technology through some real world scenarios
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CBP orders advanced cargo and customs screening from OSI
OSI’s Security division, Rapiscan Systems, has received approximately $29 million in orders from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to provide multiple units of its cargo and vehicle inspection solutions
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Obama's approach to illegal immigration has businesses worried
The Bush administration tried to reduce that number by trying to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the country; the Obama administration announced a new strategy: going after an illegal immigrant’s employer and its managers
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U.K. Border Agency reinstates DNA tests, sort of
Africans who want to immigrate to the U.K. found a relatively easy way to do so: they seek political asylum, saying they come from war-ravaged countries; the U.K. Border Agency wanted to make sure, by checking their DNA, that they come from the war-ravaged countries they claim to come from; scientists criticized the scheme as “naive” and “scientifically flawed,” so the UKBA suspended it — only to reinstate it the next day, partially
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U.S. cannot track foreign visitors who overstay their visas
Last year, 39 million foreign travelers were admitted into the United States on temporary visas; based on the paper stubs, homeland security officials said, they confirmed the departure of 92.5 percent of them; most of the remaining visitors did depart, officials said, but failed to check out because they did not know how to do so; more than 200,000 of them are believed to have overstayed intentionally
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"Absent individualized suspicion": DHS "search at will" policy violates the Fourth Amendment
Customs agents can now instruct you to log on to your laptop so they can read your e-mails and personal files and examine which Web sites you have visited; they can make a copy of your hard drive, and of any other storage device, so the government can comb through the contents more leisurely; this contents, without your knowledge, may be shared with any other government agency; it can be kept in perpetuity; the same applies to your BlackBerry, iPhone, and other digital devices; customs agents can do all that, according to DHS policy, “absent individualized suspicion”; a law professor says the government’s substitution of “search at will” for “reasonable suspicion” is a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment
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Mexican drug cartels may target U.S. companies
The U.S. growing involvement in Mexico’s drug war could put more American interests at risk
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U.K. Post Office will do biometric enrollment for foreign nationals
The U.K. Post Office has volunteered seventeen offices to collect dabs on a trial basis, with tests to start next week; so far the Identity and Passport Service has issued 90,000 cards mostly to students and people renewing marriage visas. This beats its previous target of 75,000 cards by November 2009
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DHS collects -- and keeps -- large amount of information on U.S. citizens traveling abroad
Are you an American citizen frequently traveling abroad? You may be surprised by how much of your personal information DHS collects — and stores; now you have a way of finding out
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Judge allows E-Verify rule to go into effect
The U.S. District Court for Maryland denied an injunction for another delay to five industry groups that are appealing the court’s earlier decision to allow implementation of the rule to go forward
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Improving inspections of agricultural products
Agricultural goods crossing into the United States are subject to Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) by DHS’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP); current practices call for inspecting 2 percent of the items in a container; a new study says that applying decision-making theory to inspections would improve them and make them more effective
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GAO: More technology can improve security along Southwest border
New GAO report notes that whenever a specific checkpoint received additional resources or personnel, officials typically would see a spike in the number of seizures and apprehensions, followed by a gradual decline as smugglers and criminals looked for a less secure point of entry into the United States
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Businesses seek to delay implementation of E-Verify
A business coalition files suit to prevent DHS from implementing E-verify as of next Tuesday; E-Verify would require federal contractors to verify the legal status of their workers
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U.S., Mexico in public security communications network agreement
U.S. and Mexico sign agreement to build public security communications network; the new network will allow participating public safety organizations to coordinate incident response
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