Free Republic

MIAMI - Uruguay’s banking crisis had already claimed Rosana Araujo’s savings when she and her family, tourist visas in hand, boarded a Miami-bound plane in Montevideo. She stayed in Miami after her visa expired, supporting herself on random jobs, cleaning homes or babysitting. “I feel lucky because I got here in a plane,” she said. “I feel lucky because I didn’t have to cross a desert.” While the national discussion on immigration focuses on securing the U.S.-Mexico border with a multibillion dollar wall, travelers such as Araujo who overstay their visits have become the main source of illegal immigration in...

DHS official Kelli Ann Burriesci grilled by House Oversight Committee

Later this week, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) will introduce the Strengthening Our Commitment to Legal Immigration and America's Security Act that would eliminate the Visa Lottery, strengthen interior enforcement, and require the implementation of an exit procedure for foreign visitors to the United States. Sen. Hatch unveiled the details of his bill on Friday while addressing the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "I continue to believe that we must do everything to properly and finally secure our border," Sen. Hatch said. "Many of our nationÂ’s problems result from a residual effect of a porous border and a breakdown of our immigration...

MEXICO CITY - Millions of illegal immigrants in the United States never jumped the U.S.-Mexico border where Congress wants to erect impenetrable walls and President Bush is sending National Guard troops to patrol. They never sneaked in at all. The little-acknowledged reality is that nearly half the estimated 12 million undocumented foreigners in the United States entered on bona fide U.S. visas — and simply never left. Authorities call them "overstays" who have been largely overlooked in the vitriolic debate on immigration. "The southwestern border gets all the attention, but it's staggering the number of people who come and overstay...