Brazil plans to strengthen fingerprint policy
Measure a response to U.S. fingerprinting arriving travelers
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BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) -- The Brazilian government will issue an executive order strengthening a new policy of fingerprinting all U.S. visitors in response to antiterror measures enforced by the United States, news reports said Saturday.
The Brazilian measures in place since January 1 have delayed U.S. travelers in airports for up to nine hours. A judge ordered them after the United States announced it would begin fingerprinting travelers arriving from other countries, including Brazil.
An order making the Brazilian measures an official government policy will be released Monday, TV Globo quoted government officials as saying.
A draft of the one-page order was made public by Globo.com, the web site of Rio de Janeiro's O Globo newspaper. The order also sets up a team of officials from the justice and foreign ministries to evaluate the procedures.
U.S. Customs, using digital technology, began photographing and taking fingerprints of arriving foreigners Monday. The only exceptions are visitors from 27 countries -- mostly European nations -- whose citizens are allowed into the United States for up to 90 days without visas.
U.S. officials consider the Brazilian response discriminatory because it affects only American citizens. Tourism officials are worried it will discourage Americans from visiting.
Brazil denies it is retaliating for the U.S. policy, but Judge Julier da Silva's order to begin fingerprinting contained tough rhetoric, calling the U.S. program "absolutely brutal, threatening to human rights, violating human dignity, xenophobic and worthy of the worst horrors committed by the Nazis."
Foreign Minister Celso Amorim acknowledged Saturday that the United States is concerned about boosting security, but said it should not infringe on the rights of law-abiding travelers.
"We are working for an integration of the Americas. It is natural then that there be no difficulties (for people)," Amorim said on TV Globo upon the end of a meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and cabinet colleagues in Brasilia.
U.S. diplomats were not available for comment.
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