THIS SEARCH     THIS DOCUMENT     THIS CR ISSUE     GO TO
Next Hit        Forward           Next Document     New CR Search
Prev Hit        Back              Prev Document     HomePage
Hit List        Best Sections     Daily Digest      Help
                Contents Display    

Most people don't realize how many people come into our country; how little we know about them; and whether they leave when required.

[Page: S12250]  GPO's PDF

   Consider the following: The Visa Waiver Program: 23 million people from 29 different countries; no visas ; little scrutiny; no knowledge where they go in the U.S. or whether they leave once their visas expire. The INS estimates that over 100,000 blank passports have been stolen from government offices in participating countries in recent years.

   Abuse of the VISA Waiver Program poses threats to U.S. national security and increases illegal immigration. For example, one of the co-conspirators in the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 deliberately chose to use a fraudulent Swedish passport to attempt entry into the U.S. because of Sweden's participation in the Visa Waiver Program.

   Foreign Student Visa Program: more than 500,000 foreign nationals entering each year; within the last 10 years, 16,000 came from such terrorist supporting states as Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, and Syria.

   The foreign student visa system is one of the most under-regulated systems we have today. We've seen bribes, bureaucracy, and other problems with this system that leave it wide open to abuse by terrorists and other criminals.

   For example, 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 .

   It is unclear what steps the INS took to find and deport the foreign nationals involved in this scheme.

   Each year, we have 300 million border crossings. For the most part, these individuals are legitimate visitors to our country. We currently have no way of tracking all of 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 2 years and was, according to the INS, in ``legal status'' the day of the attack. Other hijackers also traveled with ease throughout the country.

   It has become all too clear that without an adequate tracking system, our country becomes a sieve, creating ample opportunities for terrorists to enter and establish their operations without detection.

   I sit as the Chair of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information. Last month, we held a hearing on the need for new technologies to assist our government agencies in keeping terrorists out of the United States.

   The testimony at that hearing was very illuminating. We were given a picture of an immigration system in chaos, and a border control system rife with vulnerabilities. Agency officials don't communicate with each other. Computers are incompatible. And even in instances here technological leaps have been made, like the issuance of more than 4.5 million ``smart'' border crossing cards with biometric data, the technology is not even used.

   Personally, I am astonished that a person can apply for a visa and granted a visa by the State Department, and that there is no mechanism by which the FBI or CIA can raise a red flag with regard to the individual if he or she is known to have links to terrorist groups or otherwise pose a threat to national security.

   In the wake of September 11, it is unconscionable that a terrorist might be permitted to enter the U.S. simply because our government agencies don't share information.

   Indeed, what we have discovered in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks was that the perpetrators of these attacks had a certain confidence that our immigration laws could be circumvented where necessary.

   The terrorists did not have to steal into the country as stowaways on sea vessels, or a border-jumpers evading federal authorities. Most, if not all, appeared to have come in with temporary visas , which are routinely granted to tourists, students, and other short-term visitors to the U.S.

   Let me talk about the legislation that I cosponsored with Senators KENNEDY, BROWNBACK, and KYL.

   First, a key component of this solution is the creation of an interoperable data system that allows the Department of State, the INS, and other relevant Federal agencies to obtain critical information about foreign nationals who seek entry into or who have entered the United States.

   Right now, our government agencies use different systems, with different information, in different formats. And they often refuse to share that information with other agencies within our own government. This is not acceptable.

   When a terrorist presents himself at a consular office asking for a visa, or at a border crossing with a passport, we need to make sure that his name and identifying information is checked against an accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive database. Period.

   The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act would require the creation of this interoperable data system, and will require the cooperation of all U.S. government agencies in providing accurate and compatible information to that system.

   In addition, the interoperable data system would include sophisticated, linguistically-based, name-matching algorithms so that the computers can recognize that ``Muhamad Usam Abdel Raqeeb'' and ``Haj Mohd Othman Abdul Rajeeb,'' are transliterations of the same name. In other words, this provision would require agencies to ensure that names can be matched even when they are stored in different sets of fields in different databases.

   Incidentally, this legislation also contains strict privacy provisions, limiting access to this database to authorized Federal officials. And the bill contains severe penalties for wrongful access or misuse of information contained in the database.

   Second, this legislation includes concrete steps to restore integrity to the immigration and visa process. including the following: The legislation would require all foreign nationals to be fingerprinted and, when appropriate, submit other biometric data, to the State Department when applying for visa. This provision should help eliminate fraud, as well as identify potential threats to the country before they gain access.

   We include reforms of the visa waiver program, so that any country wishing to participate in that program must begin to provide its citizens with tamper-proof, machine-readable passports. The passports must contain biometric data by October 26, 2003, to help verify identity at U.S. ports of entry.

   Prior to admitting a foreign visitor from a visa waiver country, the INS inspector must first determine that the individual does not appear in any ``lookout'' databases.

   In addition, the INS would be required to enter stolen passport numbers in the interoperable data system within 72 hours after receiving notification of the loss or theft of a passport.

   We would establish a robust biometric visa program. By October 26, 2003, newly issued visas must contain biometric data and other identifying information, like more than 4 million already do on the Southwest border, and, just as importantly, our own officials at the border and other ports of entry must have the equipment necessary to read the new biometric cards.

   We worked closely with the university community in crafting new, strict requirements for the student visa program to crack down on fraud, make sure that students really are attending classes, and give the government the ability to track any foreign national who arrives on a student visa but fails to enroll in school.

   The legislation prohibits the issuance of a student visa to any citizen of a country identified by the State Department as a terrorist-supporting nation. There is a waiver provision to this prohibition, however, allowing the State Department to allow students even from these countries in special cases.

   We require that airlines and cruiseliners provide passenger and crew manifests to immigration officials before arrival, so that any potential terrorists or other wrongdoers can be singled out before they arrive in this country and disappear among the general populace.

   The bill contains a number of other related provisions as well, but the gist of the legislation is this: Where we can provide law enforcement more information about potentially dangerous foreign nationals, we do so. Where we can reform our border-crossing system to weed out or deter terrorists or others

[Page: S12251]  GPO's PDF

   As we prepare to modify our immigration system, we must be sure to enact changes that are realistic and feasible. We must also provide the necessary tools to implement them.

   Our Nation will be no more secure tomorrow if we create new top-of-the line databases and do not see to it that government agencies use them to share and receive critical information.

   We will be no safer tomorrow if we do not create a workable entry-exit tracking system to ensure that terrorists do not enter the U.S. and blend into our communities without detection.

   And we will be no safer if we simply authorize new programs and information sharing, but do not provide the resources necessary to put the new technology at the border, train agents appropriately, and require our various government agencies to cooperate in this effort.

   We have a lot to do but I am confident that we will move swiftly to address these important issues. The legislation Senators KENNEDY, BROWNBACK, KYL, and I introduce today is an important, and strong, first step. But this is only the beginning of a long, difficult process.

   In closing, I would like to respond to concerns that this bill is ``anti-immigrant.'' We are a nation of immigrants. Indeed, the overwhelming percentage of the people who come to live in this country do so to enjoy the blessings of liberty, equality, and opportunity. The overwhelming percentage of the people who visa this country mean us no harm.

   But there are several thousand innocent people, including foreign nationals, who were killed on September 11 in part because a network of fanatics determined to wreak death, destruction, and terror exploited weaknesses in our immigration system to come here, to stay here, to study here, and to kill here.

   We learned at Oklahoma City that not all terrorists are foreign nationals. But the world is a dangerous place, and there are peopled and regimes that would destroy us if they had the chance.

   We are all casualties of September 11. Our society has necessarily changed as our perception of the threats we face has changed. The scales have fallen from our eyes.

   It is unfortunate that we need to address the vulnerabilities in our immigration system that September 11 painfully revealed. The changes we need to make in that system will inconvenience people. We can ``thank'' the terrorists for that.

   Once implemented, however, those changes will make it easier for law-abiding foreign to visit or study here, and for law-abiding immigrants who want to live here. More important, once they are here, their safety, and ours, will be greatly enhanced.

   We must do everything we can to deter the terrorists, here and abroad, who would do us harm from Oklahoma City to downtown Manhattan, we have learned just how high the stakes are. It would dishonor the innocent victims of September 11 and the brave men and women of our armed forces who are defending our liberty at this very instant, if we flag or fail in this effort.

   I urge my colleagues to support us on this legislation.

   Mr. KYL. Mr. President, today, Senators KENNEDY, BROWNBACK, FEINSTEIN and I join together to introduce the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001. This bill represents the merging of counter-terrorism legislation recently introduced by Senator Feinstein and I and separately by Senators KENNEDY and BROWNBACK. This bipartisan, streamlined product, cosponsored by both the chairman and ranking Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will significantly enhance our ability to keep terrorists out of the United States and find terrorists who are here. I also want to reiterate my appreciation to Senators KENNEDY, FEINSTEIN, and BROWNBACK, and especially to their staffmembers, for their hard work and cooperation in developing this bill. I am hopeful that we can work together toward the bill's passage, and signature into law, before the 107th Congress adjourns for the year.

   Last month the President signed into law anti-terrorism legislation that will provide many of the tools necessary to keep terrorists out of the United States, and to detain those terrorists who have entered our country. These tools, while all important, will be significantly enhanced by the bill we introduce today.

   Under the Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001, the Homeland Defense director will be responsible for the coordination of Federal law enforcement and intelligence communities, the Departments of Transportation, State, Treasury, and all other relevant agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive, interoperable electronic data system for these governmental agencies to find and keep out terrorists. That system will be up and running by October 26, 2003, 2 years after the signing into law of the USA Patriot Act.

   Under our bill, terrorists will be deprived of the ability to present fake or altered international documents in order to gain entrance, or stay here. Foreign nationals will be provided with new travel documents, using new technology that will include a person's fingerprint(s) or other form of ``biometric'' identification. These cards will be used by visitors upon exit and entry into the United States, and will alert authorities immediately if a visa has expired or a red flag is raised by a federal agency. Under our bill, any foreign passport or other travel document issued after October 26, 2003 will have to contain a biometric component. The deadline for providing for a way to compare biometric information presented at the border is also October 26, 2003.

   Another provision of the bill will further strengthen the ability of the U.S. Government to prevent terrorists from using our ``Visa Waiver Program'' to enter the country. Under our bill, the 29 participating Visa Waiver nations will, in addition to the USA Patriot Act Visa Waiver reforms, be required to report stolen passport numbers to the State Department; otherwise, a nation is prohibited from participating in the program. In addition, our bill clarifies that the Attorney General must enter stolen passport numbers into the interoperable data system within 72 hours of notification of loss or theft. Until that system is established, the Attorney General must enter that information into any existing data system.

   Another section of our bill will make a significant difference in our efforts to stop terrorists from ever entering our country. Passenger manifests on all flights scheduled to come to the United States must be forwarded in real-time, and then cleared, by the Immigration and Naturalization Service prior to the flight's arrival. All cruise and cargo lines and cross-border bus lines will also have to submit such lists to the INS. Our bill also removes a current U.S. requirement that all passengers on flights to the United States be cleared by the INS within 45 minutes of arrival. Clearly, in some circumstances, the INS will need more time to clear all prospective entrants to the United States. These simple steps will give appropriate officials advance notice of foreigners coming into the country, particularly visitors or immigrants who pose security threats to the United States.

   The Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act will also provide much needed reforms and requirements in our U.S. foreign student visa program, which has allowed numerous foreigners to enter the country without ever attending classes and, for those who do attend class, with lax or no oversight of such students by the Federal Government. Our bill will change that, and will require that the State Department within 4 months, with the concurrence of the Department, maintain a computer database with all relevant infromation about foreign students.

   In the past decade, more than 16,000 people have entered the United States on student visas from states included on the Government's list of terrorist sponsors. Notwithstanding that Syria is one of the countries on the list, the State Department recently issued visas to 14 Syrian nationals so that

   they could attend flight schools in Fort Worth, TX. United States educational institutions will be required to immediately notify the INS when a foreign student violates the term of the visa by failing to show up for class or leaving

[Page: S12252]  GPO's PDF

   For the first time since the War of 1812, the United States has faced a massive attack from foreigners on our own soil. Every one of the terrorists who committed the September 11 atrocities were foreign nationals who had entered the United States legally through our visa system. None of them should have been allowed entry due to their ties to terrorist organizations, and yet even those whose visas had expired were not expelled.

   Mohamed Atta, for example, the suspected ringleader of the attacks, was allowed into the United States on a tourist visa, even though he made clear his intentions to go to flight school while in the United States. Clearly, at the very least, he should have been queried about why he was using his tourist visa to attend flight school.

   Another hijacker, Hani Hanjour, was here on a student visa that had expired as of September 11. Hani Hanjour never attended class. In addition, at least two other visitor visa-holders overstayed their visa. In testimony before the Terrorism subcommittee of which I am the ranking member, U.S. officials have told us that they possess little information about foreigners who come into this country, how many there are, and even whether they leave when required by their visas .

   America is a nation that welcomes international visitors, and should remain so. But terrorists have taken advantage of our system and its openness. Now that we face new threats to our homeland, it is time we restore some balance to our consular and immigration policies.

<<<

>>>

THIS SEARCH     THIS DOCUMENT     THIS CR ISSUE     GO TO
Next Hit        Forward           Next Document     New CR Search
Prev Hit        Back              Prev Document     HomePage
Hit List        Best Sections     Daily Digest      Help
                Contents Display