US fingerprinting requirement dehumanising

THE EDITOR: I read with utter amazement and distress for my fellow citizens, the front and third pages of the Newsday of Tuesday May 20, 2003 as it relates to the potential finger printing and taking of photographs of nationals of Trinidad and Tobago on entry to the United States of America from January 1, 2004. These proposed actions are similar to that undergone by persons arrested and charged for criminal offences. They are surely not the kind of treatment that law abiding, hard working citizens of this nation expect, nor should they tolerate, on embarking on a business trip or a well earned vacation.

It is degrading, and dehumanising to say the least, for our nationals to be subjected to such treatment while their nationals just waltz in to Trinidad and Tobago with a driver’s permit. It is observed with curious interest that these measures are designed to prevent terrorism and are only targetted at persons who are visa carriers. This effectively means that citizens of member states of the European Community would not be subjected to such degrading and humiliating treatment, as the holders of European passports are not required to carry a visa to enter the United States.

Interestingly, many terrorist acts perpetrated against the United States have been by their very own home-grown psychopaths or from those nation states enjoying cosy relationships with the United States. In this regard, the Caricom Community should join together and impose stiffer entrance requirements from US nationals, who it has shown, are capable of acts of terrorism against US interests and it is well known how well US interests are served in the Caricom region. The leaders of the American people have definitely allowed their right wing fundamentalist values to go too far. This policy is clearly designed to further discriminate against nations that are predominantly made up of persons of non-European ancestry. American insular thinking has now made it feel that its citizens alone are potential targets for terrorism in the whole wide world.

It would be a sad day for us and other small island States sitting at the US’s doorstep, if the government of Trinidad and Tobago allows such an insulting requirement to go un-objected. After all, this regime has already allowed Marli Street to be “acquired” in order that our citizens be herded like animals to participate in the same visa application process.

GARVIN  NICHOLAS
Attorney-at-Law