(a) Issuance. [Removed 6/24/97; TM 1]

(b) Fingerprint of alien being deported. AT the time of an alien's physical deportation, a classifiable rolled impression of his right thumb (or other identified finger) shall be placed on the reverse of the warrant of deportation. The alien shall sign his name under the fingerprint impression, and the signature of the officer taking the fingerprint shall be affixed. The warrant of deportation shall then be endorsed to show the port, date, and means of deportation, the name of the deportee, and the signature and title of the executing officer. (TM 7/89)

(c) Travel documentation.

(1) General. Except for a limited class of aliens deported to contiguous territory deportation cannot be effected until travel documentation has been obtained. Application therefor shall be made following issuance of the order to show cause for aliens who are detained at Service expense, or who will shortly be released from a penal institution upon completion of sentence, or who are classed as top priority. In all other cases application shall be made after the issuance of a warrant of deportation, unless a pplication for stay has been filed or anticipated and prima facie eligibility is established or there is good reason to believe that an alternate order of deportation will fail to depart voluntarily as required.

If an alien designates a country, other than Canada, to which he prefers to be deported and t appears that such country is unlikely to receive him, a request on Form I-241 for a travel document shall nevertheless be made to the authorities of the country designated; however, a simultaneous application for a travel document shall be made to the authorities of the country to which he is likely to be deported if refused by the country of his choice.

Field officers may make application directly to the issuing foreign consulate. If such a consulate is located within one hundred miles, each detained alien whose travel documentation is expected to prove difficult to obtain shall be escorted to the consulate for consular interview.

In cases where departure is being enforced, passports in Service possession need not be returned. The passport is the property of the issuing government and not the alien. However, in cases where administrative relief is pending and no final order has been entered, or if entered, enforced departure is not contemplated, the passport may be returned at the discretion of the district director.

A request to a foreign embassy for a travel document shall be made through the Director, Visa Office, Department of State, Washington, DC. If the request is to an iron-curtain country, it must be accompanied by four copies of the executed questionnaires required by such country.

When documentation is refused or unduly delayed, a request for assistance shall be addressed as follows: If the country concerned is an iron-curtain country, address the request to the Director, Visa Office, Department of State, Washington, D.C., 20520. Any other request shall be addressed to the appropriate Service officer abroad (see OI 103.1(c) . If the country is one of which the alien is not a national, citizen, subject, or resident, a request for assistance shall not be made.

A request for assistance shall be accompanied by the following, in triplicate: summary of the facts, including the deportation charges; Form I-217; any available birth, baptismal, or foreign military record; signed photograph; copy of any travel document; copy of the warrant of deportation; and copy of letter refusing issuance of travel document for deportation or copies of correspondence if there is undue delay.

A request for assistance should also be sent to the INS Representative, INTERPOL - U.S. National Central Bureau, U.S. Department of Justice, Alien/Fugitive Unit, Bicentennial Building, Suite 600, 600 E Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530. Telephone (202) 272-8383, FTS: 272-8383. Include copies of the material that had been previously presented to the Consul including I-217, I-213, immigration judge's order, fingerprints, and any other identifying documentation that will assist in establishing the nati onality of the alien. (TM 7/89)

If, after assistance from the State Department, a travel document request has been denied or acceptance of the alien unduly delayed by the country of which he is a national, citizen, subject, or resident, the case shall be referred, through the Regional Commissioner, to the Assistant Commissioner, Detention and Deportation, regarding invoking the provisions of section 243(g), only if the action of the country involved is arbitrary and is part of its pattern to refuse to issue or honor a travel document. Since these provisions are now invoked against the USSR, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, cases involving those countries should not be submitted.

A determination that deportation cannot be effected because a travel document is not available shall not be made unless all of the countries indicated in section 243(a) have either declines to issue or unduly delayed the issuance of such a document. However, an attempt to obtain a travel document shall not be made pursuant to section 243(a)(7) unless a reasonable basis exists to support such an attempt.

When a travel document cannot be obtained, the reverse of Form I-170 shall be completed and kept in the file in accordance with paragraph 16, AM 4252.15. (TM 7/86)

(2) Canada. Any request for Canadian consent to deport an alien to Canada when required by the Reciprocal Arrangement (see Appendix to this OI) shall be submitted to the Service Liaison Officer at Ottawa on Form I-270, in triplicate with Form I-217, who will transmit them to the appropriate Canadian immigration official and take any necessary steps to expedite decision. When an alien does not appear to be returnable to Canada under the Reciprocal Arrangement, but has designated Canada as the country to which he wishes to be deported, Form I-217, in triplicate, shall be submitted with Form I-270 to the Liaison Officer for presentation. Unused letters for consent shall be returned to the Service Liaison Officer in Ottawa with information as to why they were not used. When the alien is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, a copy of the request shall be sent to the Military Attache, NW, Washington, DC 20008. Existing procedures used to effect return to Canada when letters of consent are not required shall not be disturbed. Any deportee requesting transportation and subsistence to a place other than to the port of entry of the receiving country closest, to the port of exit of the deporting country pursuant to Paragraph IV of the Arrangement shall execute Form I-271.

When an unescorted deportee in the United States is placed aboard a vessel or aircraft which will enter Canada en route to a third country, the port authorities at the first Canadian port shall be notified prior to the entry. If the first Canadian port is unknown, the Service Liaison Officer in Ottawa shall be informed expeditiously to enable him to alert the appropriate Canadian authority.

The Service Liaison Officer in Ottawa may be able to obtain documents and information to assist in identifying and obtaining travel documents on crewmen of any nationality who deserted in Canada from the centralized Canadian records in Ottawa.

(3) China. A request for a transit visa to facilitate the deportation of an alien to the mainland of China through Hong Kong shall be addressed to the nearest British consulate and shall have attached thereto an application form, in duplicate, for entry into or transit through Hong Kong; a British visa application card; Form I-269, in duplicate; two additional photographs; a fingerprint chart; and a complete medical history if mentally ill or recently discharged from a mental institution. Issuance of the tran sit visa will require approximately five weeks. Two additional photographs and fingerprint charts shall be furnished the San Francisco office when the alien is transferred for deportation,

(4) Hong Kong. A request to the Service officer in Hong Kong to furnish information to facilitate the issuance of a Hong Kong travel document shall be submitted on Form I-267.