Here’s an interesting opinion piece from Saudi Gazette. The writer talks about how Saudi Arabia is doing an insufficient job of protecting itself from illegal immigrants and those who, while holding legal visas, should never have obtained them in the first place. The writer notes that the fingerprinting system now in place in many Saudi embassies and at ports of entry have helped, they are insufficient. He has some recommendations.

Border watch goes beyond fingerprinting
Abdullah Al-Bargi

BEING fingerprinted when entering or leaving a country may make you feel like a criminal, but it is in the best interest of everyone’s security.
I was fingerprinted and photographed at JFK airport in New York. I knew that my biometrics would stay in that country’s computer records for years, but the experience did not make me feel unwelcome. I could understand the complications: security is a trade-off.

Now four years after its initial implementation in the United States, the fingerprinting system has come to the Kingdom. And it is working. The news last week highlighted an account of over 500 workers wanted on criminal charges who were arrested thanks to the efficient electronic fingerprinting system in the Makkah region.

In the past, these criminals could have escaped detection, under the old system of mindless deportation of foreigners who overstay their visa.

These people simply turn themselves in with no passport or ID and are deported without a security background check, and the criminals among them thus have an easy escape route.

In order to maintain border security and to accelerate the identification of foreign violators, legitimate visitors and residents need to also undergo the burden of being fingerprinted. This, however, also helps to protect them from possible identity theft.

Visa violators have engaged in all sorts of criminal activities including prostitution under the bridge and forging ID cards to be sold to the illegal foreign community.

But there is more to this story than just fingerprinting.
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