Fingerprints at the Border

[ButteredIt]

Hello all.

I've got a question that's been buggin me for some time now. I did a search for fingerprints and nothing popped up... so here we were.

When you cross into the US and they take your fingerprints are these prints accessible by city or county police? Or are these prints only accessible by feds/customs agents? Is there some sort of jurisdiction when it comes to this fingerprint database?

Thanks for your wisdom.

 

[Omerta]

if you have a drivers license, chances are you do, then they already have your fingerprints

 

[thirtyshort]

I think (but I could be wrong) that he is more worried about local police/county sheriffs offices being able to notice he is popping in and out of the country. I'm going to take a shot in the dark here about what it is you are really asking: hypothetically you have a warrant for your arrest in a certain city/county and you are afraid that city/county will notice when you are popping in and out of the country?

 

[Omerta]

when you show your id at the border, if you have a warrant, they arrest your ass right there.

 

[LEDGro]

when you show your id at the border, if you have a warrant, they arrest your ass right there.

Not always. I got into some trouble a few years back. It was plead out and most of the charges were dropped. Sadly these charges were not taken out of the system and I still had multiple felony arrest warrants, like 50!!!! I flew in and out of the country numerous times and was constantly pulled out for the secondary search. I assumed this was simply due to having a record. Customs never gave a reason and the checks were usually very quick, basically being sniffed by a dog.

Eventually I went to Europe on a vacation and flew back through NY. I was pulled aside and figured this was like every other. They customs agents began asking me about the specific charges that were dropped. I told them about what happened and then they told me I had warrants out for my arrest. They seemed to believe my story but I figured I was going to get arrested until this got cleared up. This is the quote the customs agent gave me:

"We don't give a fuck about these charges from (southern state). You seem like a good person who made some mistakes you should talk to your lawyer when you get home and get this sorted out."

This info was very valuable to me because up to this point neither I nor my Lawyer had any idea that I had warrants. Thanks to the customs agents finally telling me what was up I was able to get the error corrected. If I had gotten pulled over for anything before that I would have ended up in jail! It really pisses me off and I was just lucky. After that I have not had any more secondary searches! So NYC Homeland Security...you guys rock!

Also if you have had charges dropped do yourself a favor and have your lawyer make sure they are actually out of the system.

 

[blinkisback]

In my experience they don't finger print you coming back in from Mexico when walking across the boarder. Even recently without a passport or birth certificate I've gotten little flack for only having a CA ID....

They do scan the id, maybe say where's your passport, but NEVER have I been finger printed coming from Mexico to the US. Recently, I've been on bail too (before sentencing) and they said nothing...

I obviously won't be going now that I'm on probation, but I wouldn't worry about them taking prints...