IMAGINE if the U-Hall security personnel only frisked fans who were yellow, brown or black-skinned. Assumed to be friendly, lighter-skinned fans could breeze through the gates while others unfairly waited.Such is the new US-VISIT border control program recently launched at airports nationwide. All arriving visitors must submit to fingerprint and photograph imaging, except visitors from 27 select countries.
The brown people would reasonably be peeved at the inconsistencies in security and entrance hassles.
Such are the inconsistencies in the current US-VISIT program, and countries like Brazil are justifiably responding to them by discriminating on the basis of nationality. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security should apply its entrance rules to citizens of all countries consistently -- all or none.
This month, Brazil (originating from an infuriated judge's orders from the interior state of Mato Grosso) began to require that border officials fingerprint and photograph all visitors from the United States, in pure reciprocation for equal treatment of both Brazilians and North Americans upon arrival in the others' country. In the whole world, Brazilian tourists must submit to fingerprinting only upon arriving in the United States. In the whole world, American tourists must submit to fingerprinting only upon arriving in Brazil. Fair, no?
The Bush administration seems to think not, condemning the new Brazilian policy. "We regret the way in which the new procedures have singled out U.S. citizens for exceptional treatment," stammered State Department spokesman Richard Boucher ("U.S. and Brazil Fingerprinting," New York Times, Jan. 10). "It's not being applied to all people the way our system is."
Boucher is lying. The U.S. system is not consistent; it unfairly singles out non-caucasian citizens from poorer countries. Amorim understandably backed the judge's ruling. The day after Boucher's Jan. 7 statement, Amorim told The New York Times that Brazil had the right to complain of discrimination since "27 countries are exempt from this measure."
Though a hassle to us travelers, this justification comes from the principle of reciprocity, which Amorim called a "basic element of international relations."U.S. unfairness has led to unfairness abroad.
This fingerprinting brouhaha has gotten out of hand (pun intended) and can sour relations between Brazil and the United States. Still, Brazil should continue to fingerprint and photograph U.S. citizens until U.S. inconsistencies end. Brazilians do not deserve to be treated differently than, say, Germans.
Brazilians have lauded their government for standing up to this unfair policy.Some Brazilians want to kiss the judge in Mato Grosso. They should.Besides inconsistent, this new US-VISIT policy recalls U.S. notions of Latin American inferiority, not of legitimate security concerns. No Latin Americans are exempt from US-VISIT, while all Western Europeans are exempt. Zacarias Moussaoui, the "twentieth hijacker," entered this country as a French citizen.Inconsistencies are unsafe, too.
"We respect and understand the security problems of the U.S.A., but it is necessary to find a solution based on reciprocity that gives dignified treatment to the citizens of all countries," stated Amorim last week to the New York Times.
Celso Lafer did not receive dignified treatment upon arrival in Miami in Jan. 2002. The Brazilian foreign minister at the time, U.S. customs agents forced Lafer to surrender his shoes for inspection. The highest-ranking diplomat from the world's fifth largest country humiliated! This breaks from widely accepted international custom for inspection exemptions for diplomats.
Imagine if Colin Powell, upon arrival at São Paulo's airport, was suspected of terrorist activities and had to remove his shoes for examination.The U.S. would be outraged.That is hypothetical; Brazilians are justifiably upset with the current policy.
Paulo Miranda, a third year college student from Florianopolis, Brazil, said in an interview thatit's not the fingerprinting itself that irks Brazilians:"Brazil is not onlyretaliating to the discrimination, it is also making a statement against thehumiliation we have to go through in order to be here."Paulo emphatically stated that a consistent U.S. policy would drop Brazilian objections."If we are all allies, then why should South American countries pose as a threat while the so-called 'white' countries are not?" We should wonder.
Former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is visiting the University today. Senhor Cardoso, as egalitarian-loving university students, we apologize you had to be fingerprinted. Our despicable president wants free trade with Brazil but does not trust your countrymen to allow free, unhindered passage of Brazilians.Tell Lula and Senhor Amorim to keep fingerprinting us. It will be a hassle, but if we have to scale your walls enough, we will start to question why we constructed our own.
(Brandon Possin's column usually appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at bpossin@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
EDITORIAL: Celebrate the Contemplative Commons and other non-academic student spaces
By Editorial Board | YesterdayThe Contemplative Commons stands as a testament to the value of spaces that transcend commercial imperatives, fostering interdisciplinary engagement and experiential learning.
KURTZWEIL: What we lose in the name of efficiency
By Paul Kurtzweil | 2 days agoPenicillin was discovered in a moldy petri dish — this government would have it thrown out because it was wasting space on the counter.
RASHID: U.Va. must empower faculty and students through transparency
By Muhammad Ali Rashid | 3 days agoBy attempting to contain, or even eliminate uncomfortable narratives, the administration incrementally consolidates power and frays communal trust.
