The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed officials were in talks with the US on the requirements and scope of an Enhanced Border Security Partnership (EBSP).
The US has given the 42 countries in its Visa Waiver Program - a reciprocal agreement that allowed citizens to visit for up to 90 days without a visa - until the end of the year to conclude EBSP negotiations or risk losing visa-free travel status.
Any information handed over to the US may end up with the country’s controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement border force - or ICE as it is commonly known - and concerns have been raised about the opaque process, data sovereignity and surveillance overreach.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) refused to clarify what safeguards were being considered to protect New Zealanders’ private information or if it was aware of any ICE personnel stationed in New Zealand at present.
Biometric sharing programmes already exist between Five Eyes countries (New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom) as part of Migration Five arrangements but typically operated on a ‘hit/no-hit’ basis where initial biometric checks provided minimal information, and further data requests were considered on a case by case basis.
But EBSPs could provide full automated access to other countries’ national databases, according to critics and minutes from European Union member state negotiations.
Still comes down to the rulers imo, as they enable such behavior from the rich. The longer this goes on, the more blatant it becomes. And they’ve been at it for a looong time.
Of course the rulers enable this behaviour. Who do you think made them the “rulers” to begin with? You think our broke asses pay to get these people elected?
Elites will always be troublesome, but of no importance when they cannot corrupt anyone to do their bidding. That’s why I focus on rulers.
The problem is that people still seem to think that the next politician will change this, which is exactly what the elites want.
Given enough time and enough resources, anyone is corruptible. The most corrupt are usually those who believe they can’t be corrupted. You just have to get them to honestly believe something that isn’t true. Once you figure out what cognitive fallacies they’re vulnerable to, you’ll have just turned a bulwark against you into your most loyal zealot. That’s why the wealthy usually win. With enough money, one person can command more time, and resources than 50% of the country combined.