- Even though the Justice Department has not yet implemented
a planned system to ensure that foreign visitors leave the United States
when their visas expire, the State Department has issued over 125,000 temporary
visas allowing people from the non-Israeli Middle East to enter the U.S.
since the terrorist attacks of last September 11.
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- In a document released to Human Events in April, the
State Department reported that between Sept. 12, 2001, and March 31, 2002,
it had given out 51,529 visas to non-Israeli Middle Easterners. (See April
8 cover story.) In a new document released to Human Events last week, the
State Department reported that between April 1 and August 23 it had issued
another 74,101 non-immigrant, or temporary, visas to nationals of Middle
Eastern countries excluding Israel (officially called Near Eastern countries
by State). An additional 58,535 visas were issued in Israel.
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- These numbers represent a significant drop from the year
before. Between Sept. 12, 2000, and Aug. 23, 2001, the State Department
issued 298,427 non-immigrant visas to non-Israeli Middle Easterners.
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- The Justice Department does not track the vast majority
of these foreign visitors while they are here, nor does the government
have any way of knowing if they leave when their visas expire.
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- "No," said Justice Department spokesman Jorge
Martinez when asked if the government knows when foreign visitors leave.
The entry-exit system will not be fully implemented until October 2004.
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- The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) estimates that
40% of the seven to 11 million illegal aliens currently residing in the
United States entered this country legally on a visa and then simply stayed.
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- Martinez said that the government has no plans to monitor
the vast majority of foreign visitors while they are here, even after the
entry-exit system is fully implemented. However, a small number of foreign
visitors will be monitored beginning this month. The first phase of the
National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) will go into
effect on September 11.
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- "After an initial 20-day period for testing and
evaluating the system at selected ports of entry, all remaining ports of
entry÷including land, air and sea÷will have the new system
in place on Oct. 1, 2002," the Justice Department announced on August
12.
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- Unlike the full entry-exit system due to be implemented
in October 2004, NSEERS is intended to cover only a small number of foreign
visitors. "Under the NSEERS program, the fingerprints of a small percentage
of entering foreign visitors will be matched against a database of known
criminals and a database of known terrorists. These visitors will be selected
according to intelligence criteria reflecting patterns of terrorist organizationsâ
activities," said the Justice Department.
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- So far, a pilot version of NSEERS has already captured
a substantial number of criminals. "During a pilot project using the
same fingerprint technology to identify wanted criminals attempting to
re-enter the United States, the results have been extremely positive,"
said State. "The INS has been receiving an average of more than 70
fingerprint Îhitsâ a week, resulting in the arrest of more
than 2,000 wanted felons from January through July 2002."
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- Martinez said that NSEERS will apply to all nationals
of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria and to all others "who meet
certain criteria." It will not apply, however, to all nationals of
Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the two countries that supplied all of the 19 September
11 hijackers. Yet, Martinez added that all those who fit the governmentâs
profile will be fingerprinted, checked against a database of criminals
and terrorists, monitored while they are here, and tracked down if they
fail to leave the country on time.
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- "If they are [legally] here past 30 days,"
he said, "they have to submit information like rental agreements,
pay stubs. . . . They have to go to an INS office to make an address change
if they move."
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- State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs spokeswoman
Kelly Shannon told Human Events in April that State does not refuse visas
to any class of people, such as young men from Iraq. She said that visa
applicants are run through 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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- Last week, Ed Dickens, a State Department press officer,
would not elaborate on Stateâs screening procedures. "We do
not explain or discuss security measures in detail," he said.
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- After the 9/11 attacks, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft ordered
U.S. attorneys to attempt to find and interview 4,793 men aged 18 to 33
from countries where al Qaeda is believed to be active and who had entered
the United States after Jan. 1, 2000. On March 20, Ashcroft announced that
approximately 1,800 could not be accounted for. Last week, Martinez said
that 1,097 still had not been found.
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- © Human Events, 2002
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