McSally introduces bill to require digitization of missing DHS fingerprint records

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be required to fully implement a digitized fingerprinting system under legislation introduced on Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ).

The DHS inspector general recently released a report that found that citizenship had been mistakenly granted to more than 800 people who were able to submit fraudulent identification information due to paper-based fingerprint records that were missing from government databases.

“What these reports show is an agency woefully ill-equipped to run basic security screenings of its applicants,” McSally said. “In this environment, with terrorists actively seeking ways to enter our country, these types of blunders are inexcusable. DHS needs to be one-step ahead, not decades behind. My bill will require that within 90 days, DHS has fully digitized its fingerprint records to ensure these failures do not happen again.”

The bill would require the digitization of all of the remaining paper-based fingerprint records that are currently missing from the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) maintained by DHS.

The report found that digitized fingerprints were missing from up to 315,000 cases in the system, and could result in mistaken access to secure areas at airports.

At least 858 people from “countries of national concern or high risk of immigration fraud” were mistakenly granted citizenship because of missing fingerprint records, according to the report.