U.S. Customs goes fingerprint-crazy. Stupak gets it stopped

NEWS RELEASE

CONGRESSMAN BART STUPAK 1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

************************* Stupak intervenes to resolve problem at border crossing

WASHINGTON – At the urging of U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has revised a policy implemented at the Sault Ste. Marie border crossing last week.

Since CBP implemented a revised procedure under the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) Program on January 18, border agents were stopping every lawful permanent resident of the United States, requiring them to undergo fingerprinting and photographing every time they reentered the United States.

“I spoke with a CBP official on Thursday who assured me this matter had been resolved effective immediately,” Stupak said. “Many people who live or work in the United States make the trip from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan every day. The new border crossing requirements were never intended to impact these individuals.”

Stupak’s office was contacted by numerous lawful permanent residents residing in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, who cross the border daily for work.

His staff worked with CBP on the issue and Stupak spoke on Thursday with CBP’s acting deputy assistant of field operations.

The new guidelines only require CBP to stop lawful permanent residents if they have reason to suspect they have violated the law.

CBP will be issuing revised guidance to officers at the port to ensure the policy is enforced appropriately.

“I am pleased we were able to resolve this issue for the individuals who make the trip across the border every day,” Stupak said. “Many of these people are coming off of long shifts when they are returning home and the inconvenience being placed on them everyday was unnecessarily taking time away from getting home to their families.”

Details on CBP’s new guidelines are available here. *************************