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
[Page: S12247] GPO's PDF---
By Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. KYL, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. HATCH, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. HELMS, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. THURMOND, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. BOND, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. DEWINE, and Mrs. HUTCHISON):
S. 1749. A bill to enhance the border security of the United States, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I am honored to join Senator BROWNBACK, Senator Feinstein, Senator Kyl, Senator Leahy, Senator HATCH, and other colleagues in introducing legislation to strengthen the security of our borders,
[Page: S12248] GPO's PDF
In strengthening security at our borders, we must also safeguard the unobstructed entry of the more than 31 million persons who enter the U.S. legally each year as visitors, students, and temporary workers. Many others cross our borders from Canada and Mexico to conduct daily business or visit close family members.
We also must live up to our history and heritage as a nation of immigrants. Continued immigration is part of our national well-being, our identity as a Nation, and our strength in today's world. In defending America, we are also defending the fundamental constitutional principles that have made America strong in the past and will make us even stronger in the future.
Our action must strike a careful balance between protecting civil liberties and providing the means for law enforcement to identify, apprehend and detain potential terrorists. It makes no sense to enact reforms that severely limit immigration into the United States. ``Fortress America,'' even if it could be achieved, is an inadequate and ineffective response to the terrorist threat.
Enforcement personnel at our ports of entry are a key part of the battle against terrorism , and we must provide them with greater resources, training, and technology. These men and women have a significant role in the battle against terrorism . This legislation will ensure that they receive adequate pay, can hire necessary personnel, are well-trained to identify individuals who pose a security threat, have access to important intelligence information, and have the technologies they need to enhance border security and facilitate cross-border commerce.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service must be able to retain highly skilled immigration inspectors. Our legislation provides incentives to immigration inspectors by providing them with the same benefits as other law enforcement personnel.
Expanding the use of biometric technology is critical to securing our borders. This legislation authorizes the funding needed to bring our ports of entry into the biometric age and equip them with biometric data readers and scanners.
We must expand the use of biometric border crossing cards. The time frame previously allowed for individuals to obtain these cards was not sufficient. This legislation extends the deadline for individuals crossing the border to acquire the biometric cards.
The USA Patriot Act addressed the need for machine-readable passports, but it did not focus on the need for machine-readable visas issued by the United States. This legislation enables the Department of State to raise fees through the use of machine-readable visas and use the funds collected from these fees to improve technology at our ports of entry.
Our efforts to improve border security must also include enhanced coordination and information-sharing by the Department of State, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and law enforcement and intelligence agencies. This legislation will require the President to submit and implement a plan to improve access to critical security information. It will create an electronic data system to give those responsible for screening visa applicants and persons entering the U.S. the tools they need to make informed decisions. It also provides for a temporary system until the President's plan is fully implemented.
We must also strengthen our ability to monitor foreign nationals in the United States. In 1996, Congress enacted legislation mandating the development of an automated entry/exit control system to record the entry of every non-citizen arriving in the U.S., and to match it with the record of departure. Although the technology is currently available for such a system, it has not been put in place because of the high costs involved. Our legislation builds on the anti-terrorism bill and provides greater direction to the INS for implementing the entry/exit system.
We must improve the ability of foreign service officers to detect and intercept potential terrorists before they arrive in the U.S. Most foreign nationals who travel here must apply for visas at American consulates overseas. Traditionally, consular officers have concentrated on interviewing applicants to determine whether they are likely to violate their visa status. Although this review is important, consular officers must also be trained specifically to screen for security threats.
Terrorist lookout committees will be established in every U.S. consular mission abroad in order to focus the attention of our consular officers on specific threats and provide essential critical national security information to those responsible for issuing visas and updating the lookout database.
This legislation will help restrict visas to foreign nationals from countries that the Department of State has determined are sponsors of terrorism . It prohibits issuing visas to individuals from countries that sponsor terrorism , unless the Secretary of State has determined that the person is not a security threat.
The current Visa Waiver Program, which allows individuals from participating countries to enter the U.S. for a limited period without visas , strengthens relations between the United States and those countries, and encourages economic growth around the world. Given it's importance, we must safeguard its continued use, while also ensuring that a country's designation as a participant in the program does not undermine U.S. law enforcement and security. This legislation will only allow a country to be designated as a visa waiver participant, or continue to be designated, if the Attorney General and Secretary of State determine that the country reports instances of passport theft to the U.S. government in a timely manner.
We must do more to improve our ability to screen individuals along our entire North American perimeter. This legislation directs the Department of State, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Justice and the INS to work with the Office of Homeland Security to screen individuals at the perimeter before they reach our continent, and to work with Canada and Mexico to coordinate these efforts.
We must require all airlines to electronically transmit passenger lists to destination airports in the United States, so that once planes have landed, law enforcement authorities can intercept passengers who are on federal lookout lists. United States airlines already do this, but some foreign airlines do not. Our legislation requires all airlines and all other vessels to transmit passenger manifest information prior to their arrival in the United States.
When planes land at our airports, inspectors are under significant time constraints to clear the planes and ensure the safety of all departing passengers. Our legislation removes the existing 45 minute deadline, and provides inspectors with adequate time to clear and secure aircraft.
In 1996, Congress established a program to collect information on non-immigrant foreign students and participants in exchange programs. Although a pilot phase of this program ended in 1999, a permanent system has not yet been implemented. Congress enacted provisions in the recent anti-terrorism bill for the quick and effective implementation of this system by 2003, but gaps still exist. This legislation will increase the data collected by the monitoring program to include the date of entry, the port of entry, the date of school enrollment, and the date the student leaves the school. It requires the Department of State and INS to monitor students who have been given visas , and to notify schools of their entry. It also requires a school to notify the INS if a student does not actually report to the school.
INS regulations provide for regular reviews of over 26,000 educational institutions authorized to enroll foreign students. However, inspections have
[Page: S12249] GPO's PDF
As we work to achieve stronger tracking systems, we must also remember that the vast majority of foreign visitors, students, and workers who overstay their visas are not criminals or terrorists. It would be wrong and unfair, without additional information, to stigmatize them.
The USA Patriot Act was an important part of the effort to improve immigration security, but further action is needed. This legislation is a needed bipartisan effort to strengthen the security of our borders and enhance our ability to prevent future terrorist attacks, while also reaffirming our tradition as a Nation of immigrants. I urge my colleagues to support it.
Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, the terrorist attacks of September 11 have unsettled the public's confidence in our Nation's security and have raised concerns about whether our institutions are up to the task of intercepting and thwarting would-be terrorists. Given that the persons responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon came from abroad, our citizens understandably ask how these people entered the United States and what can be done to prevent their kind from doing so again. Clearly, our immigration laws and policies are instrumental to the war on terrorism . While the battle may be waged on several fronts, for the man or woman on the street, immigration is in many ways the front line of our defense.
The immigration provisions in the anti-terrorist bill passed earlier this month, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, represent an excellent first step toward improving our border security, but we must not stop there. Our Nation receives millions of foreign nationals each year, persons who come to the United States to visit family, to do business, to tour our sites, to study and learn. Most of these people enter lawfully and mean us well. They are our relatives, our friends, and our business partners. They are good for our economy and, as witnesses to our democracy and our way of life, become our ambassadors of good will to their home countries.
However, the unfortunate reality is that a fraction of these people mean us harm, and we must take intelligent measures to keep these people out. For that reason, I am pleased to introduce today, along with my colleagues Senator KENNEDY, Senator KYL, Senator FEINSTEIN, Senator HATCH, Senator LEAHY, and others, legislation that looks specifically toward strengthening our borders and better equipping the agencies that protect them. The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001 represents an earnest, thoughtful, and bipartisan effort to refine our immigration laws and institutions to better combat the evil that threatens our Nation.
This legislation recognizes that the war on terrorism is, in large part, a war of information. To be successful, we must improve our ability to collect, compile, and utilize information critical to our safety and national security. This bill requires that the agencies tasked with screening visa applicants and applicants for admission, namely the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, be provided with the necessary law enforcement and intelligence information that will enable these agencies to identify alien terrorists. By directing better coordination and access, this legislation will bring together the agencies that have the information and those that need it. With input from the Office of Homeland Security, this bill will make prompt and effective information-sharing between these agencies a reality.
In complement to the USA PATRIOT Act, this legislation provides for necessary improvements in the technologies used by the State Department and the Service. It provides funding for the State Department to better interface with foreign intelligence information and to better staff its infrastructure. It also provides the Service with guidance on the implementation of the Integrated Entry and Exit Data System, pointing the Service to such tools as biometric identifiers in immigration documents, machine readable visas and passports, and arrival-departure and security databases.
To the degree that we can realistically do so, we should attempt to intercept terrorists before they reach our borders. Accordingly, we must consider security measures not only at domestic ports of entry but also at foreign ports of departure. To that end, this legislation directs the State Department and the Service, in consultation with Office of Homeland Security, to examine, expand, and enhance screening procedures to take place outside the United States, such as preinspection and preclearance. It also requires international air carriers to transmit passenger manifests for pre-arrival review by the Service. Further, it eliminates the 45-minute statutory limit on airport inspections, which many feel compromises the Service's ability to screen arriving flights properly. Finally, since we should ultimately look to expand our security perimeter to include Canada and Mexico, this bill requires these agencies to work with our neighbors to create a collaborative North American Security Perimeter.
While this legislation mandates certain technological improvements, it does not ignore the human element in the security equation. This bill requires that ``terrorist lookout committees'' be instituted at each consular post and that consular officers be given special training for identifying would-be terrorists. It also provides special training to border patrol agents, inspectors, and foreign service officers to better identify terrorists and security threats to the Unites States. Moreover, to help the Service retain its most experienced people on the borders, this bill provides the Service with increased flexibility in pay, certain benefit incentives, and the ability to hire necessary support staff.
Finally, this legislation considers certain classes of aliens that raise security concerns for our country: nationals from states that sponsor terrorism and foreign students. With respect to the former, this bill expressly prohibits the State Department from issuing a nonimmigrant visa to any alien from a country that sponsors terrorism until it has been determined that the alien does not pose a threat to the safety or national security of the United States. With respect to the latter, this legislation would fill data and reporting gaps in our foreign student programs by requiring the Service to electronically monitor every stage in the student visa process. It would also require the school to report a foreign student's failure to enroll and the Service to monitor schools' compliance with this reporting requirement.
While we must be careful not to compromise our values or our economy, we must take intelligent, immediate steps to enhance the security of our borders. This legislation would implement many changes that are vital to our war on terrorism . I therefore urge my colleagues to support it.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senators KENNEDY, BROWNBACK, and KYL in introducing the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001. We submit this legislation with 16 sponsors.
This legislation represents a consensus, drawing upon the strengths of both the Visa entry Reform Act of 2001, which I introduced with my colleague from Arizona, Senator KYL, and the Enhanced border Security Act of 2001, which Senators KENNEDY and BROWNBACK introduced.
I believe the legislation we are introducing today will garner widespread support from our colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
September 11 clearly pointed out the shortcomings of the immigration and visa system. For example: All 19 terrorist hijackers entered the U.S. legally with valid visas . Three of the hijackers had remained in the U.S. after their visas had expired. One entered on a foreign student visa. Another, Mohammed Atta had filed an application to change status to M-1, which was granted in July. However, Mr. Atta sought admission and was admitted to the United States based on his then current B-1 visitor visa.
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 .
| >>> |
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