- Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, the U.S.
State Department has issued more than 50,000 new visas to allow non-Israeli
visitors from the Middle East to enter the United States.
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- The department also issued new visas to allow more than
140,000 visitors into the United States since September 11 from an additional
arc of countries running from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and Nepal to Bangladesh.
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- The figures come from statistical sheets provided to
Human Events by the State Department following inquiries by the newspaper.
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- The U.S. issued 51,529 temporary visas at consulates
in the Middle East, excluding those in Israel, between Sept. 12, 2001,
and March 31, 2002, the documents say.
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- The records indicate that large numbers of nationals
from countries where al Qaeda is known to be active have continued to gain
permission to enter the United States in the wake of September 11. This
is despite the fact that the Justice Department has been unable to track
down about half the visitors who were granted visas from those countries
before September 11 and who are now being sought for voluntary interviews.
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- Welcome to America
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- Despite the large numbers of visas issued in these countries,
the figures are nonetheless down sharply from the same period last year,
when 107,184 visas were issued in the same period at the same consulates
in the non-Israeli Middle East.
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- Temporary visas include tourist, business, student, and
other non-immigrant visas.
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- The State Department's South Asia Post, which includes
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, issued 144,661 from
Sept. 12, 2001 to March 31, 2002, compared to 207,936 in the same time
period last year.
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- Visas granted for immigration to the United States were
also down. From September 2001 through February 2002, 7,866 immigrant visas
were issued in Middle Eastern countries outside of Israel. (The statistics
provided for Algeria ran only through January 2002.) In the same period
last year, State issued 11,275 immigration visas in these countries.
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- In South Asia (except for Bangladesh, whose statistics
go through January 2002 only), 18,124 were issued compared to 21,902 in
the same period last year.
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- All these numbers refer specifically to the place at
which a particular visa was issued, not the nationality of the person receiving
it. A small number of people receiving visas in each country could be non-natives
sojourning in that state, said State Bureau of Consular Affairs spokeswoman
Kelly Shannon.
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- State has also compiled statistics for immigrant visas
based on the birth country of the recipients, though for Algeria and Bangladesh
the numbers go through January only. Excluding Israel, 9,133 people born
in the Middle East received immigrant visas from September 2001 through
February 2002, compared to 13,116 in the same period last year. For South
Asia, the numbers are 19,042 and 22,677, respectively.
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- A congressional source told Human Events in December
that the State Department reported to his office that 7,000 men from the
25 countries on State's al Qaeda "watch list" received visas
to enter the United States in the few weeks between late October and December
1. (See Dec. 17, 2001, issue, page 8.) The State Department affirmed last
week that its criteria for granting visas have not changed since September
11.
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- "We do have a supplemental application form for
males ages 16 to 45, regardless of their country of origin," Shannon
told Human Events last week. "This just enables us to gather more
information. This is a temporary measure." The more extensive screening
of applicants is all that has changed, she said.
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- She added, however, that consular officers often exercise
their discretion when nationals apply for U.S. visas in a third country-as
when a Saudi citizen shows up at the U.S. consular office in London to
apply for a visa to come here. "If there is even questionable information,
that consular officer would probably recommend that the national travel
back to Saudi Arabia and apply there," she said.
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- But such a person could sometimes still get a visa in
the third country. "It depends on their situation, such as if they
have been to the United States before, the nature of their business,"
said Shannon.
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- Young Iraqis
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- But no class of people-such as young men from Iraq-is
excluded entirely from receiving visas to visit the United States, she
said. "Of course not," she answered when asked if any particular
set of people from any particular nation is being kept out.
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- She said that the name of every visa applicant is put
through a computer network called the Consular Lookout and Support System
(CLASS), which includes information from the FBI, foreign governments,
and other sources. "They must clear the system or they cannot get
a visa," she said.
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- Once they enter the United States, where they go, what
they do, and whether they leave when their visas expire, is something that
even the Justice Department cannot fully track, even in the wake of September
11.
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- The U.S. Justice Department cannot account for about
1,800 of the 4,800 young men who were visiting the United States from countries
where al Qaeda is believed to be active and who were sought for voluntary
interviews by department attorneys in the wake of the September 11 terrorist
attacks.
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- On Nov. 9, 2001, the department announced that it planned
to interview 4,793 men aged 18 to 33 who had entered the country since
Jan. 1, 2000, on non-immigrant, or temporary, visas. The department sought
to interview the men in the hope of gathering information that could be
useful in finding terrorists and potential terrorists.
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- At a March 20 press conference, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft
announced the results of the interviews and his intention to seek interviews
with 3,000 more men. Of the 4,793 young men sought, he said, only 2,261
were located. "Except for a very small number who declined to be interviewed,
the majority of the persons we spoke to made their best effort to provide
useful information, the overwhelming majority," said Ashcroft. "In
total, approximately one-half of the foreign nationals on the list were
located and interviewed."
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- Justice determined that 680 of the men had probably left
the country and that 785 were believed to be here somewhere but could not
be found. The Justice Department said it did not know the whereabouts of
1,000 others.
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- The additional 3,000 young men Justice sought for interviews
have entered the United States since November. "Today I am announcing
that we are reaching out to a second group of foreign nationals for their
assistance in identifying and disrupting terrorist networks," said
Ashcroft. "Approximately 3,000 individuals who entered the United
States more recently than the first round of interviewees will be asked
to speak voluntarily to U.S. officials. In a memorandum sent today, each
United States attorney has been directed to assign responsibility to interview
these individuals to members of the antiterrorism task forces and to ensure
completion of the interviews within 60 days."
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- Ashcroft said the criteria used to select the additional
3,000 were "similar" to those used previously. "In large
measure these will be men who come from a variety of settings and whose
passports reflect a variety of settings where there have been strong al
Qaeda presences," he said. "I'm not confident that we have the
exact same age parameters we've had previously."
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- Considering the inability of the Justice Department to
account for at least 1,785 young men allowed into the United States from
countries where al Qaeda is believed to be active, some members of Congress
feel it is time for the United States to suspend granting visas to visitors
from these nations temporarily.
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- Until the government implements a computerized entry-exit
tracking system, biometric visas that cannot be counterfeited, full information-sharing
among federal agencies, and other security procedures, they say, visas
for nationals of certain nations should be halted.
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- Terrorist Admission Prevention Act
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- Rep. Dave Weldon (R.-Fla.) has introduced the Terrorist
Admission Prevention (TAP) Act, HR 4010, which would put a moratorium on
visas for nationals of 15 countries "until the Department of Justice
implements the technology necessary to secure our borders and protect U.S.
citizens from terror."
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- The 15 countries listed in Weldon's bill are Afghanistan,
Algeria, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, Somalia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The attorney
general would be authorized to grant 100 exceptions to the law per country
per year.
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- "Our current border and immigration security systems
are incapable of protecting American citizens against another terrorist
attack," said Weldon. "[Muhammad] Atta was not on any INS watch
list and even if INS officials had suspected Atta, they would not have
been able to track his whereabouts in a timely manner. This is because
no system is in place to track foreign students electronically, and yet
INS continues to issue tens of thousands of foreign student visas."
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- © Human Events, 2002 http://www.humaneventsonline.com/articles/04-08-02/dagostino.htm
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