Comment referring to the intrusiveness of collecting biometric data submitted by L. Borst

The proposed US-VISIT program is already intrusive enough. It does not need to be expanded to land ports. Other countries are already conducting intrusive programs on U.S. visitors to their countries, in reciprocity of the U.S. government doing so to foreign visitors. One of those countries is Brazil. Collecting biometric data and tracking people is intrusive and violates privacy. This has also been used against a foreign journalist traveling in the United States. Extending this program to land ports is unnecessary and could also be potentially repressive. Expansion of this program to visa waiver countries is also very unnecessary because they are of very low risk as far as terrorism goes. It has also been true that governments that have feared foreign visitors have often been repressive governments. There is a lot of daily traffic between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Some Mexicans make short visits to the U.S. to shop, and this benefits the economy of local border areas. Many more Canadians visit the United States not only to shop, but also for the purposes of tourism. This could have a negative impact on the economies of border regions of the United States with both Canada and Mexico. (My name is Ms. L. Borst. My e-mail address is rebelljb@aol.com.) Electronic Privacy Information Center, American Civil Liberties Union Although the submitter indicated that an electronic file had been attached, there was not one included. The entire contents of this comment can be found in the Comment field below.