"The Department of Homeland Security is cracking down on foreigners who overstay their visas in the pilot program at airports in Detroit and Atlanta."

Atlanta Airport Tests
Security Program

Updated: Sunday, 07 Jun 2009, 10:21 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 07 Jun 2009, 9:27 PM EDT
Deidra Dukes
Edited By: Leigha Baugham | myfoxatlanta.com

ATLANTA (MyFOX ATLANTA) - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is one of just two airports in the U.S. that are serving as testing grounds for a new Department of Homeland Security program. The program checks the identities of non-U.S. citizens against a terror watch list.

The Department of Homeland Security is cracking down on foreigners who overstay their visas in the pilot program at airports in Detroit and Atlanta.

"It is really about bringing integrity back to the immigrant system and making sure we know who's here legally, who's here illegally and we can take appropriate actions," said Robert Mocny of the Department of Homeland Security.

In Atlanta, departing foreign nationals are directed to separate security lines where their fingerprints are scanned and verified.

In Detroit, the program is done at departure gates.

Former FBI agent and counter-terrorism expert Greg Esslinger said the program is welcome, if not overdue.

"If an individual has in fact been flagged for overstaying a visa of has some criminal activities that may be associated with them the hit would virtually instantaneous," said Esslinger.

The fingerprinting program would affect most foreign nationals leaving the U.S. by air. One immigrant policy group said the program was a step in the right direction but it left a big gap in the system.

"One of the major weaknesses in U.S. visits at this time is it does not cover the largest group of the visitors to the U.S. and that's Mexicans who come in over the land border," said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies.

If the program trials are successful, the Department of Homeland Security hopes to implement the program at airports nationwide by the end of 2010.

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