The United States began fingerprinting and photographing visitors from most countries today in a controversial program to try to prevent potential terrorists from slipping in by plane or ship.
The extraordinary new measures, ordered by Congress in response to the September 11th attacks, were launched at 115 airports and 14 cruise ship ports across the country. It is believed to be the first time a country has routinely fingerprinted arriving visitors.
More than 20 million overseas visitors could be forced to submit to the digital-based photo and fingerscans. Although long-planned, they coincide with a heightened alert across the country after intelligence warnings of possible attacks.
The number of visitors initially affected is small compared to the total number of visitors to the United States, but will increase substantially later this year when the program is extended to land borders with Mexico and Canada, which handle the lion's share of US entries.
The prospect of an extra and more cumbersome layer of US security prompted fears of increased border congestion and a further blow to the airline industry as well as complaints of discrimination against the developing world.
Tourists and business travelers on short visits from 27 mostly European nations are exempt from the new measures. Canadians, who fall under special immigration rules, also get a pass.