Homeland Security unveils RFID tool

TORONTO, (July 29, 2005) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is taking the controversial US-VISIT program high-tech.

Several Canada-U.S. land ports will use RFID technology to monitor visitors who want to enter the U.S. The technology is part of US-VISIT, a billion-dollar anti-terrorism initiative launched in December.

As part of the program, U.S.-bound landed immigrants, or any other non-Canadian citizen who requires a temporary VISA to enter the U.S. for business or pleasure, would have to undergo biometric digital photographs when they cross the border, as well as finger scans at a secondary inspection centre on subsequent visits.

The information is stored and cross-referenced with an FBI databases to determine if visitors might be wanted for immigration issues, or are on a list of suspected terrorist links.

Canadian citizens are the only ones in the world who are exempt from US-VISIT. However, thanks to lobbing by the Canadian Trucking Alliance and other business trade groups, the U.S. has also to some degree exempted permanent resident truck drivers from the program.

The agency confirmed last year that while Customs and Border Protection officers retain the discretion to refer a driver for US-VISIT processing, Canadian permanent resident drivers — including those in the FAST program –will only have to report for US-VISIT processing when they renew their multiple-entry I-94 (typically every six months).

The new radio frequency technology — which will be in place at the Lansdowne, Ont. crossing, as well as Alexandria Bay, N.Y. and two crossings between Surrey, B.C., and Blaine, Wash. for the technology’s pilot phase — will ensure that information is transferred to a tiny wireless device that’s lodged inside a document about the size of a large index card, Mocny said. Visitors to the U.S. who are required to carry the document will get one the first time they try to cross the border.

Subsequent crossing will be fast and easy, Mocny added, because border guards will be able to access the wireless device from up to 12 metres away. The document can’t be tracked past the border crossing area, he said.

The new card would not replace the other types of identification that frequent border crossers use, like NEXUS or FAST passes.

— with files from Canadian Press