Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

U.S. Doesn’t Know How Many Foreign Visitors Overstay Visas
The New York Times ^ | 01 Jan 2016 | Ron Nixon

Posted on 01/01/2016 8:04:56 AM PST by Theoria

The question from the congressman to the Obama administration official was straightforward enough: How many foreign visitors overstay their visas every year?

The reply was simple too, but not in a satisfying way. "We don't know," the official said.

The testy exchange during a recent congressional hearing between Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina, and Alan Bersin, the assistant secretary for international affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, highlights what some law enforcement officials call a critical weakness in the United States foreign visa program. The issue has taken on added urgency as part of a broader examination of immigration policy following the mass shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., that left 14 people dead and 22 wounded. Tashfeen Malik, one of the attackers, was granted entry to the United States under a K-1 visa, also known as a fiancé visa. Her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, was an American-born citizen. Both died in a shootout with the police. While Ms. Malik did not overstay her visa, the attack added to fears that a terrorist could exploit gaps in the system.

Nearly 20 years ago, Congress passed a law requiring the federal government to develop a system to track people who overstayed their visas. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, an entry and exit tracking system was seen as a vital national security and counterterrorism tool, and the 9/11 Commission recommended that the Department of Homeland Security complete a system "as soon as possible." Two of the 9/11 hijackers, Satam al-Suqami and Nawaf al-Hazmi, had overstayed their visas. Since then, the federal government has spent millions of dollars on the effort, yet officials can only roughly estimate the number of people in the United States illegally after overstaying visas.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: aliens; h1b; illegalalien; illegalsinvasion; visa; visaoverstay

1 posted on 01/01/2016 8:04:57 AM PST by Theoria
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Plant Micro Bombs in their head on a timer ,problem solved


2 posted on 01/01/2016 8:06:23 AM PST by butlerweave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Somewhere close to half of the 30-40 million illegal aliens are visa overstays. That’s one of the first things that needs to be fixed.


3 posted on 01/01/2016 8:07:02 AM PST by Lurkinanloomin (Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

Sounds right. I once read there was at least 50K Irish llegals in NYC alone.


4 posted on 01/01/2016 8:12:23 AM PST by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

Typical government situation: Spend tons of “other-peoples’-money”. Pay your self handsomely for your “effort”. Produce nothing of value.

This poses this year’s first question: Are all government employees incompetent, self-important boobs without integrity?


5 posted on 01/01/2016 8:13:47 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
U.S. Doesn't Know How Many Foreign Visitors Overstay Visas

Of course they don't. They don't want to know. Ultimately, its all about replacing the natives with statist-voting foreigners and replacing the US nation-state with the globalist NWO.

6 posted on 01/01/2016 8:25:01 AM PST by bkopto
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

Worse than not knowing, they do not particularly care.

Firearms get more scrutiny from the Current Regime than visa overstays.


7 posted on 01/01/2016 8:35:38 AM PST by alloysteel (Do not argue with trolls. That means they win.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

We have no control over our border whatsoever. Scan them when they come in, scan they when they leave, run a report of those who have not yet left. I will bet we have bought the computer systems and software several times over.


8 posted on 01/01/2016 8:43:28 AM PST by NonValueAdded (In a Time of Universal Deceit, Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Act)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bkopto
"Of course they don't. They don't want to know. Ultimately, its all about replacing the natives with statist-voting foreigners and replacing the US nation-state with the globalist NWO."

Dead on! Nailed it. Happening in 'whitey-towns' all over the world, including UK, Germany, Austria, Greece, etc..

9 posted on 01/01/2016 8:44:53 AM PST by CivilWarBrewing (u)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

DHS is a sick joke.

Abolish it and fire the lot of them.


10 posted on 01/01/2016 8:46:06 AM PST by Rome2000 (SMASH THE CPUSA-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-CLOSE ALL MOSQUES)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NonValueAdded
I think a nice cog in the wheel would be Trump asking why Gov Bush issued a few driver licenses to the 911 hijackers and what he did to improve the safety of future ones.

oops...flashback: Most 9/11 Terrorists Carried Florida Drivers Licenses, Says FAIR; Gov. Bush's Proposal Would Endanger American Lives Again[2004]

11 posted on 01/01/2016 8:51:12 AM PST by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
I think a nice cog in the wheel would be Trump asking why Gov Bush issued a few driver licenses to the 911 hijackers and what he did to improve the safety of future ones.

Bump. Fair game. And that's gonna leave a scar.

12 posted on 01/01/2016 9:21:12 AM PST by VRW Conspirator (American Jobs for American Workers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

But they have all of your phone conversations in storage and can track you through your license plate everywhere you have been thanks to all those surveillance cameras everywhere.


13 posted on 01/01/2016 9:37:22 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Why do we bother wasting hours at US Customs whenever we travel if the feds can’t answer this basic question?


14 posted on 01/01/2016 11:17:44 AM PST by Tallguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

The ultimate irony was US defense contractor Raytheon creating software for this exact purpose for the UK several years ago, and yet nothing like this has been implemented here.

Ditto Raytheon building thousands of miles of border wall for Saudi Arabia around Yemen and Iraq, but aside from a minimalist monitoring wall that means nothing if Border Patrol has too few people to intercept tresspassers, we haven’t built a wall on our border though we’re paid to do it for other nations.


15 posted on 01/01/2016 11:42:41 AM PST by tbw2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

But they feel sure they can track private gun sales. LOL!


16 posted on 01/05/2016 2:30:45 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson