In the wake of the November 13th terror attacks in Paris, the US government has tightened the regulations of its visa waiver program.
The program is designed to allow easier entry to the US for visitors from 38 partner countries including France and numerous other European states. But given the perceived risk of nationals of those countries coming to the US for the purpose of committing terrorist acts, the Obama administration has announced steps aimed at enhancing border security officials’ ability to track visitors’ past travels, providing refugee screening assistance to partner countries, and fining airlines that don’t implement strict passport verification.
The government also plans to further explore biometric border screening, with the Department of Homeland Security playing a key role by helping other countries to use enhanced biometric screening when processing refugee claimants, and working with other government officials to expand the use of biometrics in America’s border screening.
The measures happen to accord with SIBA’s recent call for enhanced biometric border security in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, and also fit in with ongoing trends that have seen government security agencies like the DHS and other such agencies exploring biometric border solutions.
Source: NPR
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December 2, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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