Washington.– U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers announced that U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic P. Robert Fannin, and the Secretary of State for Foreign Relations in the Dominican Republic, Carlos Morales Troncoso, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the execution of the Electronic Travel Document (eTD) program.

The eTD program speeds the transfer of information needed by foreign governments to issue travel documents for the repatriation of their citizens who are ordered removed from the United States. The electronic information is shared between ICE offices and foreign consulates and embassies and cuts the processing time for these documents by up to two-thirds. Securing travel documents is essential for repatriating illegal aliens.

“The innovative use of information technology systems must be part of any comprehensive strategy to stem the flow of illegal immigration,” said Assistant Secretary Myers. “We are removing record numbers of illegal aliens and must continue to find solutions such as this to make the best use of limited resources.”

The eTD system replaces a time-consuming, paper-based process with an innovative and master electronic system. Information and documents can be reviewed by consular officials in electronic form in their respective U.S. consulates in minutes rather than in days. Consular officials can then issue a travel document electronically to ICE officers.

This entire electronic process–from travel document request to printed travel document–cuts to 30 minutes a paper-based process that can take many days. With the eTD, the time an individual may spend in detention can be reduced by days or even weeks and a corresponding reduction in transportation and detention costs can be achieved at the same time.