Long term lawful permanent residents with criminal records should not travel outside of the U.S.
Por Wendy Hess
15:15 | 01/09/09

Prior to 9/11 it was a well known fact that one hand of the government often didn’t know what the other was doing. For this reason it was easy for the 9/11 hijackers to enter the U.S. as students, attend flight school and even obtain an extension of their nonimmigrant status in the U.S. well after their own deaths and the deaths of others which they directly caused. Such a situation was intolerable and hence the Department of Homeland Security was a born. Under this new Department the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP) was created in place of the old Customs and Immigration departments at both borders and airports.

In 2003, in keeping with the desire and need to know who is entering and leaving the U.S. and thus who remains illegally within our borders, the US-VISIT program was established. This program verifies the identities and travel documents of visitors by comparing biometric identifiers, and by comparing biometric identifiers with information drawn from intelligence and law enforcement watch lists and databases. Visitors subject to US-VISIT may be required to provide finger scans, photographs, or other biometric identifiers upon arrival at, or departure from, the United States. Currently, people entering the United States pursuant to a nonimmigrant visa, or those traveling without a visa as part of the Visa Waiver Program, are subject to US-VISIT requirements, with certain limited exceptions. However, effective January 18, 2009, US-VISIT will apply to all permanent residents—green card holders—entering or exiting from an air or seaport. Permanent residents entering through land ports of entry (i.e. Canada and Mexico) will be required to provide fingerprints only if they are referred to “secondary inspectionâ€