For Immediate Release 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 Investiga-tion,
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 Depart-ment 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 data-base 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 govern-ments,
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
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