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Statement of Need: On July 27, 2006, DHS published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that outlined DHS’ plan to begin enrolling additional groups of aliens into the US-VISIT biometric screening protocol. (US-VISIT is an integrated, automated entry-exit system that records the arrival and departure of aliens, verifies aliens’ identities, and authenticates aliens’ travel documents through the comparison of biometric identifiers.) The expansion of US-VISIT biometric screening to these additional groups is needed in order to verify the identity and authenticity of aliens presenting United States issued travel documents upon an application for admission. The expansion is consistent with the implementation of the US-VISIT program to date, which has taken an incremental, phased-in approach to the biometric screening of aliens applying for admission to and exiting from the United States. This expansion will encompass the majority of aliens to-date not undergoing biometric screening by the US-VISIT program.

Summary of the Legal Basis: While the establishment of the US-VISIT program is found in the provisions of several public laws, the abstracts of which have been discussed in several rulemakings (See 69 FR 53318, for example), the authority for the expansion of the program to additional alien groups may be found in section 302(b)(2) of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, Public Law 107-173, 116 Stat. 543, 552 (May 14, 2002). This section of law requires the United States to install at all ports of entry equipment and software that allows for the biometric comparison and authentication of all United States visas and all machine-readable, tamper-resistant travel and entry documents that are issued to aliens. The installation of the needed equipment and software is complete.