The Trump Administration says it has issues with visa overstays in the country and is now set to step up law enforcement to try to cut down on the violations.
Consequently, the government is introducing a face scan for all US citizens travelling abroad.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said this programme is for better tracking visa overstays and also at tightening security.
The agency said it’s the perfect way to successfully expand a programme that tracks non immigrant foreigners.
A report in May showed that more than 54 million visitors checked in last year and nearly 630,000 of them didn’t return home.
John Wagner, the Customs deputy executive assistant commissioner in charge of the programme, disclosed in an interview that U.S. citizens departing on international flights will submit to face scans.
The number of visa overstays was about 200,000 higher than the previous 12-month period.
Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Centre for Immigration Studies, said those kinds of rates should force a rethink at the State Department, which issues visas, and should spur immigration officials to put more effort into deterring and deporting overstays in the U.S.
“The fact that more than 700,000 visits were overstayed last year shows just how much we need to step up interior enforcement to create more of a deterrent, not only by identifying and deporting overstays, but by weakening the job magnet by cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers,” she said.
No comments: