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Slow progress is made in controlling foreign student visas .
Progress on tightening up the United States' free-and-easy borders has been slow but steady since Sept. 11--not spectacular, but at least things are moving.
Before the terrorist attack, student visas were issued to foreign nationals, some of whom came to this country and, in essence, disappeared into the general population. The Immigration and Naturalization Service didn't check whether they actually went to school or whether they left after their education was done.
Things changed on Sept. 11. Security became a greater concern. The INS is setting up a computer system to track student visa holders. The agency has been struggling with a system for years, but it appears that it will be in place, INS officials said, by 2003.
The tracking system is not without its critics. A group dealing with foreign students withdrew its opposition after the September attack, but many individual schools have expressed the concern that a tracking system will discourage foreign students.
Security trumps that concern. So long as a student visa is the gateway to an easy and unmonitored existence in the United States for people whose motives might be other than scholarship, this is a security matter. If keeping tabs on foreign students discourages a few from coming to the United States or inconveniences a college's administration, too bad.
Besides the INS system, the Senate is expected to join the House soon in passing legislation that, among other things, would forbid the issuance of student visas to anyone from a country that sponsors terrorism unless the State Department investigates and approves the individual.
Some local INS offices are on the ball, too. Omaha-based INS officials, for instance, have been in contact with colleges and universities within their jurisdiction. But not all INS offices across the country have been as aggressive.
Better monitoring of guests to discourage those who would abuse the privilege is not onerous or unreasonable. Rather, these precautions are sensible and understandable in light of the credible threat terrorism poses to Americans. The faster security can be improved, the better for the nation.
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