When I returned from Haiti a couple of months ago, I flew into Miami. As I stood in line waiting to go through customs (the U.S. citizens-only line), I noticed a number of people being questioned for a long time by the customs agent. A few of those questioned were then escorted into a room somewhere, presumably for further questioning.
Soon after entering the line it became obvious that I made a bad choice. The line was slow. The agent appeared to be questioning people pretty thoroughly (not necessarily a bad thing), but then I noticed he was also fingerprinting every person that went through his line.
I thought this odd because it was the line for U.S. citizens and I assumed that fingerprinting at airport customs only happened to foreigners.
I then noticed that in other lines, people were not being fingerprinted. Having never been fingerprinted (other than leaving Zambia last year) and wanting to keep my perfect record in the U.S., I started thinking of how I would politely refuse the customs agent’s request for my hand. It was then that I realized I didn’t know my rights when it came to this.
I bailed on that customs line in Miami (even though I was the next person) and found another one where the agent was not fingerprinting anyone.
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This experience has been on my mind all these months and oddly enough dominated conversations I had with Jon on the 4th of July (Independence Day, you know?).
Travelers have already been made to feel like criminals when we opt out of the backscatter scanner, do we really need to be fingerprinted just for returning to our own country?
It turns out, according to the ACLU, yes. Customs agents and the Department of Homeland Security, have pretty wide purview in terms of what they can ask us to do. In other words, we have few rights as travelers.
I spoke to a couple of representatives from the Seattle ACLU office and what I was told was, “The courts give latitude to customs.” One representative was not encouraged that if this issue went ever went to court, that travelers would win. And he was unsure as to what the outcome would be if a person refused to be fingerprinted.
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What can you do if you’re asked to be fingerprinted at U.S. Customs?
You do have some options.
1) You can politely refuse. Though it’s unclear what the consequences would be, my educated guess is that you would be detained. Long enough to miss your flight if you have a connection and enough to make you feel very uncomfortable. Could you be arrested? Not sure.
In an informal poll that I took among my travel colleagues, it doesn’t appear there’s rhyme or reason for who gets fingerprinted and who doesn’t. Is it only at certain airports or for specific flights? Only some agents who are doing it? Is there any profiling involved? Who knows.
I definitely don’t want to encourage you to get in trouble with customs, but if you do decline, please let me know how that goes.
2) If you are a U.S. citizen and are fingerprinted at U.S. customs after returning from a trip, contact your State Senators and congressman/woman to express your displeasure. Being fingerprinted upon entry back to the U.S. (after they already have your passport info), is tantamount to being treated like a criminal. Let your representatives know!
Please also contact the ACLU. The representative that I spoke to at the Seattle office suggested that people contact the ACLU affiliate in the state where the fingerprinting took place. His reasoning was that if it’s a state with a lot of international arrivals (Florida, New York, or Texas), that ACLU office would have more resources than one from your home state (if not already one of those).
If we can raise enough awareness about this issue, perhaps we can stop this practice.
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I appreciate the fact that our government is trying to make things safer for us. But with the revelation of the NSA’s data collection, and the seemingly randomness of American citizens being fingerprinted, I am truly concerned that our rights are being infringed upon.
As a U.S. citizen, have you been fingerprinted returning to the country? Please share your story in the comments below or contact me. I’m doing further research on this and would love to hear your story.
Travel Well,
Beth
Related links:
Backscatter Scanners: Why Research Matters
Opting Out of Backscatter Scanners
Full Body Scanners and Your Health
Photo credit:
Fingerprint – Geoffrey Fairchild
Thanks for taking on this issue Beth and informing the rest of us! I’m tired of being treated like a criminal and I don’t think “safety” is a good enough excuse for infringing on my rights. I realize many people hold differing opinions on that scale.
If you have Global Entry, you get finger printed every time you come back into the USA (one of the biometric identifications). I could see how some would object, but since it expedites my trip back into the USA (usually by about an hour), I’m happy to do the fingerprints for Global Entry.
I had no idea they were doing this. Yes, we need to raise awareness and stop it. There’s really no reason to do this. Maybe they are trying to employ more people?
Lance – good point about the Global Entry. But that’s a volunteer program. I object to being made to give my fingerprints.
This is the first I have ever heard about this happening. But, you bring up a good point. Very few travelers actually know their rights when it comes to these issues. It is important for travelers to know their rights, especially when they are in foreign countries or you could be taken advantage of.
wanderingeducators – about the “employ more people” speculation:
I would be *extremely* surprised.
While
A) Air traffic control and airport screening security were exempted by Congress (to avoid the widespread huge delays it would have caused)
and
B) It hasn’t been discussed in the national news much in the last couple months or so.
As someone who lives in Northern Virginia near DC, I would remind you that this is still the era of “sequestration”. Most of the non-military federal government currently is taking unpaid furlough days.
In that environment, I can’t imagine any government agency creating new “make-work” jobs.
It sounds very arbitrary. But thanks for including the opt-out points. I was fingerprinted dozens of times when I lived in Japan a while back.
It’s a bit unsettling to see that American citizens are being fingerprinted without any apparent reason. But in the light of the recent revelations from Edward Snowden, it isn’t surprising at all.
I’ve never seen or experienced this. Will let you know if I do.
Haven’t had it happen to me yet, not sure how I feel about it. Maybe because after years of increased and increasing Big Brother-like surveillance, one grows inured to a heavy handed governmental presence. You get to the point where you know this isn’t a good thing, and yet weary of battling every rights infringement.
We’ve been fingerprinted in Miami Airport and thought nothing of it. In our state our Driver’s License has our fingerprint on it. It’s a very interesting point.
Beth dear, What a great piece you bring. I have long wondered what information is used to keep us safe and what is used to know too much. I respect that those doing their jobs for our own safety, clearly should be respected and appreciated, but i don’t know anymore. i don’t trust the motives of governments, who i feel usually are out to get money in this way or another, and not genuinely concerned with our well being. Big brother is watching, and we’re making it so easy by putting everything out there in our blogs and all of our social media. We’ve made his job very easy! thanks for making me think about what this means too. Gabi
I’ve gotten quite accostumed to fingerprinting while in Spain, as all citizens and residents must carry an ID card with our fingerprint on the back. I’ve never been fingerprinted in the US – coming or going – and have had my bag searched just two or three times. Thanks for clearing up as much as you learned, B!
Mary – that’s interesting that you have to have your fingerprint on your license (is that also Florida?). And the fingerprinting seems to happen in the larger airports – Miami, Dallas, and the NYC area.
Sandra – it’s too bad that you (we) feel weary fighting these sorts of things. I’m hopeful that a lobbying group or the ACLU can work on our behalf to stop this practice but it will take travelers like us to start the call to action.
Is that really true? Malaysia ID is with finger print behind but for europe ID, finger print is not visible but probably stored inside the chip of ID
Hi Lex,
Not sure what part you’re questioning…
Beth
One of my friends has definitely had some issue with fingerprints at the border. Interesting to know the options. Thanks!
yes this is horrible the ACLU should do something about this
pretty soon we will have no right at all the government will do whatever they want to do we are not too far away from become like Cuba
Thanksfor the article, Beth. Our civil liberties are being infringed upon not only in the airport but in the housing sector as well. As part of a background check necessary to qualify for goverment-subsidized housing under section 42 (different than section 8), one must go down to the local police and “voluntarily” submit to fingerprinting which, I’m told, they then compare against their database to root out any suspect past.
I’m about to move into such an apartment complex, so will be giving my prints in a couple of days, which has really bothered me. Due to time and money constraints I have no option other than to move to this place, which also happens to be lovely and much moreaffordable than any other places I’ve looked at.
I prepared a statement of concientious objection (citing unnecessary search and seizure, just cause and invasion of privacy) and tried to offer that for their files in lieu of consenting to fingerprinting but was told that without the prints they would not/could not lease to me (due to the Federal requirements under Section 42). When I asked what happened to the record of the prints after the police ran the initial check, the leasing agent didn’t know, but it’s easy to assume that they become part of the permanant database (hopefully kept separate from the criminal database, but who knows?)
Now mind, the prints are *in addition to* the regular criminal background check. BTW, it will cost me $10 for the honor of being fingerprinted, another $25 for the background check. I’ve heard some employers require fingerprinting. “Just cause” is meaningless now.
Thanks for sharing, J. That’s terrible to hear and really bums me out that we are all going to end up in the system, whether we like it or not.
Best of luck to you!
Ok, you like Obama’s immigration plan and amnesty right? You want more immigrants to this country? This is what you get in return, being treated like a criminal. The immigration officers have to do their due diligence in order to stop huge number of foreigners trying to get in by fraudulent means. In the end, who get affected by these policies, US citizens.That’s why Obama’s immigration plan is gonna make things worse for immigration officers and US citizens alike.
I don’t see it that way, Josh, but you’re welcome to your opinion. I’ve been treated like a criminal at airports long before Obama was even in office.
I bought a four months tickets to the u s i was question upon my arrival why am i staying so long..i said that on vacation anyway they gave me 6 months i only spend four ..on my arrival back home they question me and fingerprint me and search my phone
U S Immigration told me to tell them the truth and they will let me go..but i did nothing wrong but saying in there country for four month the said that i was arrested and i not aware of that can they tell you lie just for you to confess for thing you Dont know?
Wow, if Americans get treated this way, I can’t imagine what foreigners get treated. I came to your site because I was looking up fingerprinting at US Customs. I am a Canadian and was just wondering after I just read a Canadian born female was told at the Quebec-Vermont border crossing that she was being denied, after they fingerprinted and question her, and was told to get a visa. I don’t even know how that is possible for a Canadian. The US Embassy thought the situation was odd as well.
Sad to say but individual rights are out the window now. The Bill of Rights and foreign equivalents outside of speech and guns seem like ancient history.
The situation the person above is describing (Canadian female detained at Vermont) is Manpreet Kooner, who got finger printed when going to a spa with her friends.
Someone should really answer what happens if you refuse to get printed at the US border.
Tim – The CBP folks won’t answer the question in terms of what will happen if you refuse to be fingerprinted because it’s subject to the border patrol person. You might luck out and have someone nice who let’s you go or you might have a jerk who detains you. Same with the TSA folks who do pat downs. Some are really aggressive and some are super nice – both are doing their jobs.
Thank you, Beth; I’m glad to know others in the country are also holding out against the creep of universal fingerprinting! (I’ll be surrendering in search of a job as a first responder, but to me that one seems reasonable enough.)
IANAL but FWIW: US citizens have a Right of Entry, backed up by court rulings. In all precedent I’ve read, it was a law-abiding United States citizen who somehow didn’t conform to all the desired dotted i’s and crossed t’s, usually not intentionally on the part of the citizen. So my guess, backed by a CNN article, is that if a United States citizen refuses to be fingerprinted then they’ll be severely inconvenienced and eventually released into the United States.
But in this climate you never know. . . . And for people who aren’t United States citizens? I’ve got no clue. (And IANAL!)