*EPF208 10/30/01
Text: Combating Terrorism Through Immigration Policies
(Homeland security presidential directive-2) (1710)
President Bush
has asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to create a Foreign Terrorist Tracking
Task Force, with the details spelled out in Homeland Security Presidential
Directive-2, the White House announced October 30.
The directive, titled
"Combating Terrorism Through Immigration Policies," also covers enhanced
Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs enforcement capability, abuse
of international student status, North American complementary immigration
policies, use of advanced technologies for data sharing and enforcement efforts,
and budgetary support.
"It is the policy of the United States to work
aggressively to prevent aliens who engage in or support terrorist activity from
entering the United States and to detain, prosecute or deport any such aliens
who are within the United States," the directive says.
Following is the
text of the directive:
(begin text)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office
of the Press Secretary
October 30, 2001
HOMELAND SECURITY
PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE-2
October 29, 2001
SUBJECT: Combating
Terrorism Through Immigration Policies
A. National Policy
The
United States has a long and valued tradition of welcoming immigrants and
visitors. But the attacks of September 11, 2001, showed that some come to the
United States to commit terrorist acts, to raise funds for illegal terrorist
activities, or to provide other support for terrorist operations, here and
abroad. It is the policy of the United States to work aggressively to prevent
aliens who engage in or support terrorist activity from entering the United
States and to detain, prosecute, or deport any such aliens who are within the
United States.
1. Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force
By
November 1, 2001, the Attorney General shall create the Foreign Terrorist
Tracking Task Force (Task Force), with assistance from the Secretary of State,
the Director of Central Intelligence and other officers of the government, as
appropriate. The Task Force shall ensure that, to the maximum extent permitted
by law, Federal agencies coordinate programs to accomplish the following: 1)
deny entry into the United States of aliens associated with, suspected of being
engaged in, or supporting terrorist activity; and 2) locate, detain, prosecute,
or deport any such aliens already present in the United States.
The
Attorney General shall appoint a senior official as the full-time Director of
the Task Force. The Director shall report to the Deputy Attorney General, serve
as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, and
maintain direct liaison with the Commissioner of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) on issues related to immigration and the foreign
terrorist presence in the United States. The Director shall also consult with
the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs on issues related to visa
matters.
The Task Force shall be staffed by expert personnel from the
Department of State, the INS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret
Service, the Customs Service, the Intelligence Community, military support
components, and other Federal agencies as appropriate to accomplish the Task
Force's mission.
The Attorney General and the Director of Central
Intelligence shall ensure, to the maximum extent permitted by law, that the Task
Force has access to all available information necessary to perform its mission,
and they shall request information from State and local governments, where
appropriate.
With the concurrence of the Attorney General and the
Director of Central Intelligence, foreign liaison officers from cooperating
countries shall be invited to serve as liaisons to the Task Force, where
appropriate, to expedite investigation and data sharing.
Other Federal
entities, such as the Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons Coordination
Center and the Foreign Leads Development Activity, shall provide the Task Force
with any relevant information they possess concerning aliens suspected of
engaging in or supporting terrorist activity.
2. Enhanced INS and
Customs Enforcement Capability
The Attorney General and the Secretary of
the Treasury, assisted by the Director of Central Intelligence, shall
immediately develop and implement multi-year plans to enhance the investigative
and intelligence analysis capabilities of the INS and the Customs Service. The
goal of this enhancement is to increase significantly efforts to identify,
locate, detain, prosecute or deport aliens associated with, suspected of being
engaged in, or supporting terrorist activity within the United States.
The new multi-year plans should significantly increase the number of
Customs and INS special agents assigned to Joint Terrorism Task Forces, as
deemed appropriate by the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury.
These officers shall constitute new positions over and above the existing
on-duty special agent forces of the two agencies.
3. Abuse of
International Student Status
The United States benefits greatly from
international students who study in our country. The United States Government
shall continue to foster and support international students.
The
Government shall implement measures to end the abuse of student visas and
prohibit certain international students from receiving education and training in
sensitive areas, including areas of study with direct application to the
development and use of weapons of mass destruction. The Government shall also
prohibit the education and training of foreign nationals who would use such
training to harm the United States or its Allies.
The Secretary of State
and the Attorney General, working in conjunction with the Secretary of
Education, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the
Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, and any other departments or
entities they deem necessary, shall develop a program to accomplish this goal.
The program shall identify sensitive courses of study, and shall include
measures whereby the Department of State, the Department of Justice, and United
States academic institutions, working together, can identify problematic
applicants for student visas and deny their applications. The program shall
provide for tracking the status of a foreign student who receives a visa (to
include the proposed major course of study, the status of the individual as a
full-time student, the classes in which the student enrolls, and the source of
the funds supporting the student's education).
The program shall develop
guidelines that may include control mechanisms, such as limited duration student
immigration status, and may implement strict criteria for renewing such student
immigration status. The program shall include guidelines for exempting students
from countries or groups of countries from this set of requirements.
In
developing this new program of control, the Secretary of State, the Attorney
General, and the Secretary of Education shall consult with the academic
community and other interested parties. This new program shall be presented
through the Homeland Security Council to the President within 60 days.
The INS, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall conduct
periodic reviews of all institutions certified to receive nonimmigrant students
and exchange visitor program students. These reviews shall include checks for
compliance with record keeping and reporting requirements. Failure of
institutions to comply may result in the termination of the institution's
approval to receive such students.
4. North American Complementary
Immigration Policies
The Secretary of State, in coordination with the
Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, shall promptly initiate
negotiations with Canada and Mexico to assure maximum possible compatibility of
immigration, customs, and visa policies. The goal of the negotiations shall be
to provide all involved countries the highest possible level of assurance that
only individuals seeking entry for legitimate purposes enter any of the
countries, while at the same time minimizing border restrictions that hinder
legitimate trans-border commerce.
As part of this effort, the
Secretaries of State and the Treasury and the Attorney General shall seek to
substantially increase sharing of immigration and customs information. They
shall also seek to establish a shared immigration and customs control database
with both countries. The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and
the Attorney General shall explore existing mechanisms to accomplish this goal
and, to the maximum extent possible, develop new methods to achieve optimal
effectiveness and relative transparency. To the extent statutory provisions
prevent such information sharing, the Attorney General and the Secretaries of
State and the Treasury shall submit to the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget proposed remedial legislation.
5. Use of Advanced
Technologies for Data Sharing and Enforcement Efforts
The Director of
the OSTP, in conjunction with the Attorney General and the Director of Central
Intelligence, shall make recommendations about the use of advanced technology to
help enforce United States immigration laws, to implement United States
immigration programs, to facilitate the rapid identification of aliens who are
suspected of engaging in or supporting terrorist activity, to deny them access
to the United States, and to recommend ways in which existing government
databases can be best utilized to maximize the ability of the government to
detect, identify, locate, and apprehend potential terrorists in the United
States. Databases from all appropriate Federal agencies, state and local
governments, and commercial databases should be included in this review. The
utility of advanced data mining software should also be addressed. To the extent
that there may be legal barriers to such data sharing, the Director of the OSTP
shall submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget proposed
legislative remedies. The study also should make recommendations, propose
timelines, and project budgetary requirements.
The Director of the OSTP
shall make these recommendations to the President through the Homeland Security
Council within 60 days.
6. Budgetary Support
The Office of
Management and Budget shall work closely with the Attorney General, the
Secretaries of State and of the Treasury, the Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security, and all other appropriate agencies to review the budgetary
support and identify changes in legislation necessary for the implementation of
this directive and recommend appropriate support for a multi-year program to
provide the United States a robust capability to prevent aliens who engage in or
support terrorist activity from entering or remaining in the United States or
the smuggling of implements of terrorism into the United States. The Director of
the Office of Management and Budget shall make an interim report through the
Homeland Security Council to the President on the recommended program within 30
days, and shall make a final report through the Homeland Security Council to the
President on the recommended program within 60 days.
GEORGE W. BUSH
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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