Borders/Immig

CBP adds food specialists to inspect imports
Worries about imported food, and about animal disease and the invasion of lakes and rivers by foreign species, increase; Border Protection adds food specialists for better point-of-entry inspection
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TSA to assume responsibility for watch list matching responsibilities
There have been many — many, many — complaints about the accuracy and effectiveness of DHS no-fly watch list; TSA takes responsibility from individual airlines for matching names on the list with passengers
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Visa Waiver Program expanded
Six more countries admitted to the Visa Waiver Program: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea
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DHS, Michigan reach agreement on enhanced driver's license
The Michigan agreement, similar to that reached with other states, seeks to create an enhanced driver’s license — which denotes both identity and citizenship — as a compliance option to fulfill Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requirements
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"Guilt" detector to catching smugglers
Researchers are looking to increase security at border crossings by developing a computer system that can detect guilt
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Hacker reveals how to compromise e-passport systems
An anonymous technology researcher discusses the ease with which e-passports may be compromised by hackers
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U.S. considers waiving visa requirement for Israelis
U.S. may add Israel to the Visa Waiver program in 2009, after Israel implements a new biometric passport for Israeli citizens
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Briefly noted
Dems want DHS to target criminal illegal immigrants… “A delicate balance” between port security and business requirements… Somalia: Pirate’s vital routes attacks cause shipping costs to soar
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Alternatives to the H-1B visa, pt. 2: L-1 "International Transferees"
The demand for H1-B visas far outstrips its supply; one alternative is the L-1 visa which allows companies to transfer employees to, and allows investors to form start-up operations in, the United States
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Coast Guard chooses new patrol boat
Years after Congress urged the U.S. Coast Guard to speed up its patrol boat replacement program, the service finally picked a design and a shipbuilder for its new cutters; the winner: Bollinger Shipyards
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Coast Guard to expand biometric project
There has been a 75 percent in the number of illegal immigrants attempting to cross the Mona Passage from the Dominican Republic into Puerto Rico in the past two years; the Coast Guard is not sure the drop is all due to the service’s biometric measures, but it thinks the technology has something to do with it
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Texas county weighing border fence alternatives
Cameron County, Texas, must decide which option is more beneficial to it: DHS’s fence plan which the county does not like, but which will see $37 million in contracts go to local businesses, or resubmitting the county’s alternative fence plan, which DHS had already rejected, exploiting the fact that DHS has postponed the 31 December fence deadline
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Alternatives to the H-1B visa, pt. 1: O-1 "Extraordinary ability"
The U.S. immigration services received more than 163,000 petitions for the 65,000 regular H-1B visas allocated for FY2009; the homeland security, hi-tech, and services sectors, as well as academic and research institutions, need another way to bring to the United States qualified foreign workers and researchers; one such way is the O-1 “Extraordinary Ability” visa
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FAST-certified trucker tries to smuggle drugs into U.S.
The Free And Secure Trade (FAST) program allows truckers who drive back and forth across the U.S. border to pre-register with Customs, thus giving them the status of low-risk traveler; one FAST-certified driver used status to smuggle drugs
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Concerns over TWIC roll-out delays
TWIC aims to provide 1.2 million U.S. port workers with forgery-proof biometric IDs; so far only 500,000 workers have been enrolled, and DHS pushed completion of enrollment from 25 September to 15 April; lawmakers are not happy
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