Coast Guard tests fingerprinting at borders
Thomas Frank



WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard is using a new weapon to fight illegal immigration: electronic fingerprinting.

A test program in which Coast Guard sailors take digital fingerprints from people picked up on boats headed to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic has led to more than 100 prosecutions in the past year.

The fingerprints are e-mailed to the U.S. mainland by satellite and are checked against a government database that shows deportation orders and criminal records.

Those prosecuted were charged with attempted illegal entry into the USA, Coast Guard data show.

The Coast Guard says the prosecutions are deterring other potential illegal migrants, who in the past were not identified and typically rode back to the Dominican Republic on Coast Guard boats.

“Before, it was pretty much a ferry service to repatriate them,â€