NAILS (National Automated Immigration Lookout System)

NAILS (National Automated Immigration Lookout System) is a centralized database and computing system used by entry inspectors to identify aliens not eligible for admission. NAILS (and the updated version, NAILS II) allows inspectors to quickly retrieve and review biographical or historical case data and was designed to facilitate evaluation of entrant status.

The primary source of data for the NAILS database is gleaned directly from data supplied by potential immigrants on entry and immigration documents. This base of data provides a framework for the addition of information obtained from other federal, state, and foreign agencies.

Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the NAILS system drew criticism because it is essentially a name-based system that can be thwarted by the use of a false name or falsified supporting documents. By relying on names rather than biometrics, NAILS provided gaps through which determined terrorists could slip into the United States.

NAILS is a secure database with access restricted on a "need to know" basis that was, prior to March 2003, operated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). On March 1, the newly created United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) absorbed the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). All INS border patrol agents and investigators—along with agents from the U.S. Customs Service and Transportation Security Administration—were placed under the direction of the DHS Directorate of Border and Transportation Security (BTS). Responsibility for U.S. border security and the enforcement of immigration laws was transferred to BTS.

BTS is scheduled to incorporate the United States Customs Service (previously part of the Department of Treasury), and the enforcement division of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (previously part of the Department of Justice). Former INS immigration service functions are scheduled to be placed under the direction of the DHS Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Under the reorganization the INS formally ceases to exist on the date the last of its functions are transferred.

Although the description of the technologies involved in the NAILS entry security program remain the same as when operated by the INS, in an effort to facilitate border security, BTS envisions higher levels of coordination between formerly separate agencies and databases. As of April 2003, the specific coordination and future of the NAILS program was uncertain with regard to name changes, program administration, and policy changes.

Although the NAILS system is limited as an isolated system, even prior to DHS integration, data contained in the NAILS system, along with data from the Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS), and the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS II), was available to inspectors through the Interagency Border Inspection System (IBIS) maintained by U.S. Customs Service.

One reason for separate database systems is that it allows easier compartmentalization of data, keeping classified information secure while allowing access to data that may be requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

█ FURTHER READING:

ELECTRONIC:

Department of Homeland Security. April 2, 2003. <http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/index.jsp> (April 11, 2003).

Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Law Enforcement: The National Border Patrol Strategy. <http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/statements/igstate.htm> (April 12, 2003).

SEE ALSO

APIS (Advance Passenger Information System)
IBIS (Interagency Border Inspection System)
IDENT (Automated Biometric Identification System)
INSPASS (Immigration and Naturalization Service Passenger Accelerated Service System)
PORTPASS (Port Passenger Accelerated Service System)
SENTRI (Secure Electronic Network for Travelers' Rapid Inspection)

nails The replacement of sharp claws with flattened nails in primates is considered part of the evolutionary development of a hand able to grasp objects. The nails start to develop in the fetus by the end of the third month, and are formed from the same epidermal tissue as the skin. They reach the ends of the fingers and toes about a month before birth.

The mature nail is a plate of the protein keratin which is also present in hair and skin. The pale ‘half-moon’ at the base — often exposed above the nail-fold only on the thumbs and big toes — marks the area of the bed of the nail where its substance is formed and from which it grows — the germinal matrix. The rest of the nail bed provides a surface for the growing nail to slide over as it advances at the rate of about 0.1 mm/day. The germinal cells continually divide to replace those which generate, and disappear into the non-cellular substance of the nail. This proliferation can be interrupted by injuries or acute illnesses, leaving grooves across the nails which gradually grow out.

The decoration of both toenails and fingernails for aesthetic purposes dates back at least as far as Ancient Egypt, where henna and other products were applied to colour the feet and hands as well as the nails. Growing long fingernails has also been practised in Chinese and Hindu cultures, in part as a sign of leisure and status, since many forms of manual labour are difficult or impossible with long fingernails. Well-groomed nails have been a sign of cultivation and cleanliness for both men and women in American and European cultures as well. As a 1952 etiquette guide pronounces, ‘A fastidious man … keeps his nails clean and short with the cuticle pushed back. If he has his nails professionally manicured, they may be buffed but should never have any coloured or even colourless polish applied’. Coloured and clear nail enamel, or ‘polish’, became popular for women in the early twentieth century, and often replaced the literal polishing of nails with a buffer. False and elaborately painted nails are also now popular among some cultural groups.

In folk beliefs, the nails are often said to continue to grow after death. For instance, long fingernails, or sometimes no nails at all, are characteristic of vampires, revenants, and other beings of ‘undead’ status. In fact, in decomposition the tissues of the body dehydrate and contract, giving the appearance that the nails, hair, and teeth have ‘grown’. Sometimes the nails are sloughed off with the outer layer of skin, leaving exposed what appears to be new skin or nails, another sign of preternatural ‘life’ in a corpse. This same phenomenon is also the explanation for stories of dead bodies supposedly having come to life in the coffin and having either chewed off their nails in anxiety, or having scraped them off trying to escape. To keep the nails in place, Ancient Egyptian embalmers sometimes either tied the nails to the fingers and toes, or covered them with metal thimbles.

Sarah Goodfellow

nail / nāl/ • n. 1. a small metal spike with a broadened flat head, driven typically into wood with a hammer to join things together or to serve as a peg or hook. 2. a horny covering on the upper surface of the tip of the finger and toe in humans and other primates. ∎  an animal's claw. ∎  a hard growth on the upper mandible of some soft-billed birds. 3. hist. a medieval unit of measurement: ∎  a measure of length for cloth, equal to 2¹/₄ inches. ∎  a measure of wool, beef, or other commodity, roughly equal to 7 or 8 pounds. • v. [tr.] 1. [tr.] fasten to a surface or to something else with a nail or nails: nail the edge framing to the wall | the teacher was nailing up the lists. 2. inf. expose (someone) as deceitful or criminal; catch or arrest: have you nailed the killer? ∎  expose (a lie or other instance of deception). 3. inf. Football tackle the quarterback or ballcarrier, esp. at or behind the line of scrimmage. ∎  Baseball (of a fielder) put (a runner) out by throwing to a base: he dropped a perfect throw home that should have nailed Joe by yards. ∎  (of a player) defeat or outwit (an opponent): Navratilova tried to nail her on the backhand side. ∎  (of a player) secure (esp. a victory) conclusively: there's no doubt I had chances to nail it in the last set. 4. vulgar slang (of a man) have sexual intercourse with (someone). PHRASES: fight tooth and nailsee tooth. hard as nails (of a person) very tough; completely callous or unfeeling. a nail in the coffin an action or event regarded as likely to have a detrimental or destructive effect on a situation, enterprise, or person: this was going to put the final nail in the coffin of his career.PHRASAL VERBS: nail someone down elicit a firm promise or commitment from someone: I can't nail her down to a specific date. nail something down 1. fasten something securely with nails. 2. identify something precisely: something seems unexpected—I can't nail it down, but it makes me uneasy. 3. secure something, esp. an agreement: the company has finally nailed down the agreement with its distributors. DERIVATIVES: nailed adj. [in comb.] dirty-nailed fingers. nail·less adj.

nail in devotion or meditation, nails, as used for the crucifixion of Jesus, are taken as symbolizing the Passion.

Nails are the emblem of St Joseph of Arimathea, St Louis, and St William of Norwich.

Livy records the belief in ancient Rome that a plague could be checked by the dictator driving a nail into the Capitol.
nail in the coffin an action or event regarded as likely to have a detrimental or destructive effect on a situation, enterprise, or person.
nail jelly to the wall the type of an impossible task. The image was used by US President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) at the time of the Panama Revolution in 1903, ‘You can no more make an agreement with those leaders of Colombia than you can nail currant jelly to the wall. And the failure…is not due to the nail. It's due to the currant jelly.’
nail one's colours to the mast refuse to admit defeat; declare openly which side one favours. The allusion is to a sea-battle in which the colours nailed to the mast cannot be lowered in defeat.
on the nail immediately, at once (usually referring to the payment of money). The explanations associating this phrase with certain pillars of the Exchange at Limerick or Bristol are too late to be of any authority in deciding the question.

See also bed of nails, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, one nail drives out another, fight tooth and nail, for want of a nail.

nail metal pin driven by force applied at one end into pieces of material, usually wood, to join them together. The strength of a nailed joint depends on the properties of the wood, the type and number of nails used, and the type of loads applied to the joint. When the nail is subjected to side loading, the strength of the nail itself also becomes important. Generally speaking, a nail holds better when driven across the grain of a wood than parallel with it and better in a hardwood than in a softwood. However, since a softwood has less tendency to split than a hardwood, more nails can be driven into it. Various means, such as texturing the surface of a nail or coating it with high-friction materials are used to increase its withdrawal resistance.

nails
1. Women captives are to pare their fingernails (Deut. 21: 12).

2. Iron nails used by builders are mentioned by Isaiah (41: 7) and Jeremiah (10: 4) in their sarcastic description of the construction of idols. Nails were sometimes used by the Romans for fastening the victims of crucifixion and in 1968 Israeli archaeologists discovered, in a cemetery on the Mount of Olives, a nail driven through the anklebones of a man crucified in the 1st cent. CE. Evidence that Jesus was nailed rather than tied to his cross is in the request of Thomas (John 20: 25) to see ‘the mark of the nails’.

nail hard terminal covering of finger and toe; small spike of metal OE.; the applications (XV) to measures of weight and length are of uncert. orig. OE. næġ(e)l = OS., OHG. nagal (Du., G. nagel), ON. nagl :- Gmc. *naʒlaz, f. an IE. base *nogh- repr. also by Lith. nāgas nail, claw, OSl. nogŭtĭ nail, noga foot. Gr. ónux, Skr. nakhá-, rel. further to L. unguis, Olr. ingen.
Hence nail vb. OE. næg̣lan.

nail (nayl) n. a horny structure, composed of keratin, formed from the epidermis on the dorsal surface of each finger and toe. Growth of the nail occurs at the end of the nail root, behind the exposed nail, by division of the germinative layer of the underlying epidermis. Anatomical name: unguis.

nail •ail, ale, assail, avail, bail, bale, bewail, brail, Braille, chain mail, countervail, curtail, dale, downscale, drail, dwale, entail, exhale, fail, faille, flail, frail, Gael, Gail, gale, Grail, grisaille, hail, hale, impale, jail, kale, mail, male, nail, nonpareil, outsail, pail, pale, quail, rail, sail, sale, sangrail, scale, shale, snail, stale, swale, tail, tale, they'll, trail, upscale, vail, vale, veil, wail, wale, whale, Yale •Passchendaele • Airedale •Wensleydale • Clydesdale •Chippendale • Coverdale • Abigail •galingale • martingale • nightingale •farthingale • Windscale • timescale •blackmail • airmail •email, female •Ishmael • voicemail • vermeil