For Immediate
Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 29,
2001
Fact Sheet
Fact
Sheet on Increasing Immigration Safeguards and Improving
Vital Information Sharing
TODAY'S PRESIDENTIAL ACTION
- President Bush convened the first
formal meeting of the full Homeland Security Council
(HSC).
- The President took another step in the
fight against terrorism by issuing a Presidential
Directive to improve immigration policies and practices
and make it more difficult for terrorists to enter or
remain in the United States.
ABOUT THE PRESIDENT'S ACTION TO TIGHTEN IMMIGRATION
POLICIES
- Improving legal immigration remains a
priority for the Bush Administration, but the Bush
Administration is committed to ensuring that our
immigration policies and practices do not allow
terrorists to enter or remain in the United States.
- To increase immigration safeguards and
improve vital information sharing between federal
agencies, President Bush issued a new Homeland Security
Presidential Directive to help combat terrorism through
more effective immigration policies and practices.
- Among its key features, the
Presidential Directive:
- Creates a Foreign Terrorist Tracking
Task Force: The Task Force will coordinate Federal
programs designed to: (1) deny entry into the U.S.
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 U.S. The Task Force will be
established by the Attorney General by November 1.
Experts from the State Department, FBI, INS,
Secret Service, Customs Service and the intelligence
community will serve on the Task Force.
-
Orders a Thorough Review of Student Visa Policies:
International students add greatly to the vitality and
quality of our nation's colleges, universities and other
institutions of learning. The Presidential
Directive orders the Secretary of State and the Attorney
General -- working with the Secretary of Education,
Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Energy and the
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
(OSTP) -- to institute tighter controls and ensure that
student visas are being issued appropriately. A
goal of the program is to prohibit the education and
training of foreign nationals who would use their
training to harm the United States and its Allies.
-
Better Coordinates Immigration and Customs
Policies with Canada and Mexico: Millions of people and
billions of dollars of goods move legally between the
United States, Canada and Mexico each year. The
United States seeks to deny potential terrorists easy
entry into the country from Canada or Mexico, while
ensuring that legal travel and commerce continues with
minimal border restrictions. The Directive orders
the Secretaries of State and Treasury and the Attorney
General to increase the sharing of customs and
immigration information with Canada and Mexico, and work
with our neighbors to develop a shared immigration and
customs control database. These efforts will
ensure the maximum possible compatibility of
immigration, customs and visa policies.
The Presidential Directive also:
- Directs the Attorney General and
Secretary of the Treasury to enhance the investigative
and intelligence analysis capabilities of the INS and
the Customs Service, and to increase INS and Customs
special agent personnel assigned to Joint Terrorism Task
Forces
- Directs the Office of Science and
Technology Policy to work with the Attorney General and
the Director of Central Intelligence to make
recommendations on advanced technology that could be
used to aid immigration enforcement
- Directs the Office of Management and
Budget to work with the Attorney General, the Secretary
of State, the Secretary of the Treasury and the
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security to
develop a budgetary plan to support this effort