Thread: Napolitano Letting Mexicans Bypass Some Airport Security?

http://nation.foxnews.com/airport-secur ... t-security

Mexican citizens will soon be eligible to apply for a "trusted traveler" status that will allow them to bypass some elements of airport security when they fly into the United States — a U.S. government-approved program that critics say could be exploited by violent drug cartels.

Under the program, Mexicans who have undergone background checks and are deemed low security risks will be able to fly into major U.S. cities and breeze through customs without being questioned by U.S. Customs agents.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her Mexican counterparts announced their intent to roll out the program two weeks ago, trumpeting it as evidence of increased information sharing and law enforcement collaboration between the countries.

The program is an expansion of an existing trusted traveler program, the Global Entry Program, which was launched in 2008 and expedites pre-approved passengers through the airport customs and security process when they arrive in the U.S.

The program is designed to weed out low-risk passengers and enable authorities to zero in on those who may be more likely to pose a threat.

But critics say Mexico's drug cartels will quickly learn how to exploit loopholes in the plan, and they point to the recent arrests of two pre-vetted "trusted travelers" caught trying to smuggle marijuana and other contraband into the U.S. through a Texas border checkpoint.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/airport-secur ... z18mnC6yis

In Mexico City, Secretary Napolitano and Mexico Ministry of the Interior Secretary José Francisco Blake Mora signed an agreement expressing their intent to develop a Global Entry international trusted traveler program pilot between the United States and Mexico–leveraging the success of the United States' Global Entry program to facilitate secure, legitimate travel between the two nations.

Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows pre-approved members who have undergone robust background checks and provided biometrics expedited customs processing–reducing average wait times while allowing law enforcement to focus on the most serious security threats at points of entry to our country. At Global Entry kiosks, members insert their passport or lawful permanent resident card into a document reader, provide digital fingerprints for comparison with fingerprints on file, answer customs declaration questions on the kiosk's touch-screen, and then present a transaction receipt to CBP officers before leaving the inspection area.

The Trusted Traveler Program isn't new and it isn't just for Mexicans.

SEE

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-222038-tru ... +travelers

Originally Posted by AngryTX

Global Entry Program

Global Entry Program = genital grabbing for Americans with no grabbing for foreigners.


This sounds like a Communist front; come up with a bunch of names for the same thing to obfuscate what you are really trying to do.

Too bad the Constitution doesn't address the evils of the Lame Duck Congress.

The Trusted Traveler Program has been around since 2004.

PROGRAM TIMELINE

How the government's Registered Traveler program has developed:

2001: After 9/11, airline industry executives and some security experts ask the government to consider expedited security clearance for known air travelers.

Summer 2004: The Transportation Security Administration begins testing a trusted traveler program. Starting with Northwest Airlines customers at Minneapolis-St. Paul, TSA works with four airlines to test the program at five airports.

June 2005: Orlando airport hires Manhattan-based Verified Identity Pass to operate a privately run the trusted traveler program there.

July 2005: Orlando starts its program with 4,000 subscribers who had paid $80 for a year. TSA officials say that private companies, not the government, will operate Registered Traveler programs.

September 2005: TSA ends its test programs.

January 2007: Airports at Indianapolis, Cincinnati and San Jose, Calif., launch their programs.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-222038-tru ... +travelers