January 10, 2004

IT'S WORKING

AFP reports:

America’s controversial foreign visitor screening program has nabbed 30 criminals in its first three days of operation, an official said yesterday.

I wonder how many American criminals the Brazilians have caught.

Posted by Tim Blair at January 10, 2004 01:25 AM
Comments

i love brazil, but what made me laugh about that judge was the fact that every brazilian has to carry around an id card with their photo and fingerprints on it already.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at January 10, 2004 at 01:28 AM

Ohmigod! Don't you see it?! The Nazis used to catch criminals too!!!

Posted by: dazed at January 10, 2004 at 02:19 AM

absolutely brutal, threatening human rights, violating human dignity, xenophobic and worthy of the worst horrors committed by the Nazis

Bom Dia to you Pepe, but calm down. It makes sense to most sane people in this day and age to know who is in your country and for what purpose.

Posted by: Wallace at January 10, 2004 at 02:43 AM

Evidently the first effect this has is to piss off American tourists. Not about taking fingerprints. No one seems to object to that. It's about taking 5+ hours to do it. Seems the judge put in an order that lacks the resources to be carried out efficiently. I kinda remember how whiny the French (spit!) got when all of a sudden tourism dropped off there. Maybe Brazil will be similar? I'm pretty sure more Brazilians want to come to the US than vice versa.

Posted by: JorgXMcKie at January 10, 2004 at 05:56 AM

Actually, I DO object to being fingerprinted.

I am not a criminal.
I will not be treated like one.

Fred

Posted by: Fred at January 10, 2004 at 08:03 AM

Didn't I read or see something a while back about pedophile "sex" tourism to Brazil, taking advantage of the masses of parentless street kids down there?

If the Brazilian judge's order results in arrest and imprisonment of some of these types I think that'll be great. In fact, I recommend to the Brazilians the prompt administration of capital punishment, to supplement fingerprinting, arrest, and trial (a brief one); maybe it'll act as a deterrent regrettably unavailable to us here in the good ol' USA.

Posted by: Paul H. at January 10, 2004 at 08:19 AM

Fred,

Criminals get fined, jailed or otherwise punished. You won't be trated like a criminal.

Suspects get fingerprinted. Everyone is a suspect.

Paul W. Gembicki

Posted by: Paul Gembicki at January 10, 2004 at 08:26 AM

You see, Fred, it's not really up to you. You might know that you are not a criminal or terrorist but other people don't. You share the world with other people, get the picture?

The alternative, of course, is to stay out of the country.

Posted by: Bob Bunnett at January 10, 2004 at 09:56 AM

Does the US have an extradition treaty with Brazil now? If not - or was it the UK that couldn't extradite - it seems rather silly.

Posted by: Kevin at January 11, 2004 at 02:26 PM