U.S. Exit Visas

It will be interesting to see how this is implemented. I don't think the airline will be responsible for this, probably TSA. I would expect TSA will set up separate lines for non-US citizens.

Not TSA.....CPB (Customs and Border Protection)--the same people who check you coming in.

It will be like leaving Schengen. First security then exit immigration.

Australia does this ---not an "exit visa" per se, but you fill out a "departing passenger card" and show your passport. Everyone does it, -AFAIK. But maybe Australian citizens had a separate line.

It is one more line to go through, but not onerous.

. . . . and we can assume that all airports are ready to implement this, have the space and facilities for it, and the costs will be reflected in our fares.

Biometrics certainly raise the level of identification but they also raise the level of challenge. Just getting the retinal scan for my NEXUS card was a challenge and I have yet to have one of the machines actually recognize me that way. I think that the actual implementation of such a system will take some time.

But with a hiring freeze, who could check the passengers?

Well, he's already made an exception of the hiring freeze for the Veterans Administration; he'll probably make an exception for the TSA also - and so on, and so on, and so on......

Another totally useless bureaucracy. When you check in for international flight your passport is already scanned right there. Didn't you notice?

The scanning at check in is to send your information to the government so your name can be checked against the no fly list as well as for airline purposes.

The exit visa program is to make sure foreigners are leaving when they are supposed to.

If you are on the no-fly list, then you don't fly. If you overstay your visa or are wanted for some reason, those can lead to arrest.
You can't expect airline personnel to act as law enforcement officers.

It's the same reason when leaving Schengen you have to go through exit immigration even though my passport is also scanned when checking in.

Passport is checked. If the machine can get information about no fly list it can certainly send information about overstayed visa to law enforcement. Adding another personnel and another bureaucratic procedure - who would pay for it? Us.

Obama had started looking into having exit immigration but never finalized the order for it. Trump just followed through.

And what is the airline employee supposed to do if the passport shows the person in front of them has overstayed their visa or is even wanted? Ask them to wait while the police are called? Or perhaps just let them go about their business and hope the police eventually find him in the terminal? Or should they be willing to physically stop the person?

Or what if the person leaving isn't the person named in the passport? Not all passports are as sophisticated as the U.S.'s. It could be a way for wanted people to leave the country. Only a trained border agent would know what to look for.

Like all the other executive orders and directives, this is obviously well thought out and carefully planned with all foreseeable (and perhaps some unforeseeable) consequences and costs taken into account and provided for.

All this nitpicking is just . . . .

Police could just wait for him when he is entering the plane.