Homeland Security Department officials must increase the number of international visitors they track at land-based U.S. ports of entry and ensure that border officials can more quickly verify those visitors’ identities, the department’s inspector general recommended in a new report. Richard Skinner, DHS’ IG, suggested that officials make these changes, among others, to the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program. US-VISIT compiles databases of biographic and biometric information from international visitors to determine whether the travelers pose a terrorist threat. Congress has mandated that US-VISIT must eventually monitor all foreign nationals entering and departing the United States. Although Skinner wrote he was cautiously optimistic that the department would reach its goals, he warned that the program has made only the bare minimum of progress. Full Story
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