Posted on 12/11/2001 4:01:41 AM PST by SJackson
HOW would you like to let 100,000 non-immigrant students and such from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea into the US next year?
The Senate is considering and likely to pass a bill sponsored by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Cal) which lets the State Department admit them if it finds that they do "not pose a threat to the safety or national security of the United States according to standards developed by the Secretary of State." Senator Feinstein's bill is a slight improvement from the status quo which does not even require such a finding before they are let into the country. But it falls far, far short of what we need to keep our nation safe.
In 2000, 92,784 citizens of these seven terror-sponsoring nations were admitted to the US on such visas. Under Feinstein's bill they will continue to come in at the same pace.
How, precisely, is a harried, understaffed, pressured, and bureaucratic State Department to conduct 100,000 detailed investigations with sufficient thoroughness that it will be able to spot a terrorist hiding in the bunch who is doing everything he can to conceal his identity? Is there anybody who wants to argue that our government will do a good enough job of scrutiny that it will keep terrorists out? Does anyone have that kind of faith in our government?
The Feinstein bill begs the more basic question: who needs these visitors to come here anyway? The bill comes as a relief to the American Council of Education, a moniker for the university lobby that had feared that Congress would impose a total ban on student visas from these nations. It is true that universities thrive from the tuition they get from such students, but cutting them off would make only a slight dent in the 600,000 students here on visas. What possible national security purpose is served by letting anyone into the US from these rogue nations? Especially right now?
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The United States does not need upwards of 100,000 new potential Mohammed Attas walking around our streets?
The Feinstein bill is co-sponsored, as one would expect, by Ted Kennedy. But it also features conservatives John Kyl (R-Arizona) and Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) among its sponsors. The bill is a giveaway to colleges and universities anxious for the tuition these students would generate but it is a sellout of American security and national interest.
It sure is! Foreign students usually pay full freight at universities and colleges, and then some, because they may even be assessed extra charges. Very often, the students' governments are paying, so the high cost does not usually come out of the students' pockets. Therefore, there isn't much resistance on the part of foreign students to high tuition/fees and room and board.
Most universities and colleges LOVE foreign students, and it isn't because of "diversity" no matter what they say.
This is shameful pocket lining on the part of the universities at the expense of national security. (I have worked in a university for 20 years).
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