Senators Feinstein and Kyl to Introduce Bill to Strengthen Counter-Terrorism Efforts at
U.S. Ports of Entry
October 25, 2001

Washington, DC -- In the wake of the September 11^th terrorist attacks which pointed out shortcomings in the nation's immigration and visa system, U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) today announced legislation to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts at U.S. ports of entry.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service reports that 13 of the 19 suspected hijackers entered the U.S. legally with valid visas. Three of the 13 remained in the country after their visas had expired, two are suspected to have entered on foreign student visas, and the INS had no information on six of the hijackers.

"September 11^th pointed out clear shortcomings in our immigration and visa system," Senator Feinstein said. "Our nation's borders have become a sieve, creating ample opportunities for terrorists to enter and establish their operations without detection. This bill will strengthen our counter-terrorism efforts by connecting law enforcement together with a centralized database, upgrade technologies used to prevent fraud and illegal entry, and impose new restrictions on student visas to prevent misuse of the program by those who would do this nation harm."

"This situation has brought to the forefront serious lapses in our ability to keep terrorists out and track foreign nationals who have overstayed their visas or committed serious crimes," Senator Kyl said. "Even with passage of the counter-terrorism legislation, the United States will continue to face overwhelming infrastructure and personnel needs at our consular offices abroad, along both our southern and northern borders, and in our immigration offices throughout the United States."

In the last fiscal year, 23 million people arrived in the U.S. from 29 different countries under the so-called "visa waiver program" with no visas and little scrutiny. More than 7 million tourists, business visitors, foreign students, and temporary workers arrived last year as non-immigrants, yet the INS does not have a reliable tracking system to determine how many of these visitors left the country after their visas expired.

Among the 7.1 million non-immigrants, 500,000 foreign nationals entered on foreign student visas alone. The foreign student visa system is one of the most under-regulated visa categories, subject to bribes and other problems that leave it wide open to abuse by terrorists and other criminals. In fact, in the early 1990s, five officials at four California colleges were convicted of taking bribes, providing counterfeit education documents and fraudulently applying for more than 100 foreign student visas.

Each year, there are 300 million border crossings in the United States. For the most part, these individuals are legitimate visitors to the nation, but the country lacks the ability to track all these visitors. Mohamed Atta, the suspected ringleader of the attack, was admitted as a non-immigrant visitor in July 2001. He traveled freely to and from the U.S. during the past two years and was, according to INS, in "legal status" the day of the attack. Other hijackers also traveled with ease throughout the country.

"These changes must be put in place rapidly as it is important that we work together to reform our immigration system to prevent the entry of those intent on inflicting terror and destruction in our society," Senator Feinstein said. "The problems we face are monumental as our government is understaffed and relies on outdated equipment and paper documents to screen foreign nationals as they try to enter the United States."

The proposed Feinstein-Kyl legislation would:

• Mandate the creation of a centralized, comprehensive database of visa holders and other non-U.S. citizens who enter the nation. All federal agencies must contribute information, and the database must be accessible at all ports of entry.
  
  
• Develop new biometric "SmartVisa" card. This would require the INS and the State Department to establish biometric visa documents to enable foreign nationals to swipe upon entry and exit to the United States. To implement this process, the bill would authorize funding for INS to deploy biometric card readers and scanners at all U.S. land, air sea ports of entry.
  
  
• Reform the visa waiver program. Require visa waiver countries, as a condition of their continued participation in the program, to develop a tamper-resistant, machine-readable passports. Within one year, all countries must also include biometric data on those passports, which conforms to U.S. standards.
  
  
• Establish new screening procedures for foreign nationals entering the U.S. Require all airlines, cruise lines, and cross-border bus lines submit passenger manifests to the central database prior to departure. The bill also would require all non-U.S. citizens to submit fingerprints and other biometric data to the State Department when applying for a visa. The State Department would then be required to electronically transmit versions of its visa files to the centralized "lookout" database, so that information on arriving aliens is available to the INS at the time of inspection.

• Implement new toughened document requirements. Strengthen internal, federal identification documents such as pilots' licenses, Social Security cards, work authorization cards, and other federal documents by requiring that they be fraud- and tamper-resistant, contain biometric data, and, if applicable, include the visa's expiration date.

• Stop all student visas to individuals from countries included on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist-sponsoring states. In the last 10 years, more than 16,000 students have come from such terrorist supporting states as Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, and Syria.
  
  
• Require the INS to conduct a background check before the State Department can issue a student visa to foreign nationals.

• Require all educational institutions to immediately notify the INS when a foreign student violates the term of his or her visa by not showing up for classes at all.
  
  
• Strengthening alien smuggling laws. Individual terrorists have been known to use established smuggling routes to enter the U.S. and to assist the entry of their associates. The bill would double the minimum term of imprisonment for those who cause serious bodily injury or jeopardy to life while engaging in alien smuggling crimes for commercial gain.
  
  
• Increase federal staffing to handle additional border security and visa responsibilities. The bill would: increase the number of INS inspectors at the ports of entry by 200 for each of FY 2002 through 2006; increase the number of U.S. Customs inspectors by not less than 200 in each of fiscal years 2002 through 2006; and authorize an increase in State Department personnel to sufficiently staff U.S. consular offices overseas.

As chair and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's panel on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information, Senators Feinstein and Kyl recently held a hearing which demonstrated that changes need to be made in U.S. law to strengthen our borders.

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