Originally Posted by
EK029
Why does this happen exactly? Do US nationals have their fingerprints stored on the biometric chip of their passports?
The fact that this happens to ethnic minority citizens (I'm guessing the Muslim/Arab/Asian looking ones) shows how hideously uncomfortable the US is with diversity.
Actually, there is a good reason to fingerprint non-citizens: Espionage.
When presented with a US passport they can check to see that the photo on file matches the person and that the passport is valid. It would be pretty hard to slip in on a forged/tampered US passport.
They can't make such checks on foreign passports. Fingerprints won't catch forged foreign passports *THE FIRST TIME* but it means that once a spy has come into the country once they can never come in under another identity.