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U.S. Has Given 50,000 Visas Since 9-11 To New Visitors From the Middle East
By Joseph A. D'Agostino

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, the U.S. State Department has issued more than 50,000 new visas to allow non-Israeli visitors from the Middle East to enter the United States.

The department also issued new visas to allow more than 140,000 visitors into the United States since September 11 from an additional arc of countries running from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and Nepal to Bangladesh.

The figures come from statistical sheets provided to Human Events by the State Department following inquiries by the newspaper.

The U.S. issued 51,529 temporary visas at consulates in the Middle East, excluding those in Israel, between Sept. 12, 2001, and March 31, 2002, the documents say.

The records indicate that large numbers of nationals from countries where al Qaeda is known to be active have continued to gain permission to enter the United States in the wake of September 11. This is despite the fact that the Justice Department has been unable to track down about half the visitors who were granted visas from those countries before September 11 and who are now being sought for voluntary interviews.

Welcome to America

Despite the large numbers of visas issued in these countries, the figures are nonetheless down sharply from the same period last year, when 107,184 visas were issued in the same period at the same consulates in the non-Israeli Middle East.

Temporary visas include tourist, business, student, and other non-immigrant visas.

The State Department’s South Asia Post, which includes Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, issued 144,661 from Sept. 12, 2001 to March 31, 2002, compared to 207,936 in the same time period last year.

Visas granted for immigration to the United States were also down. From September 2001 through February 2002, 7,866 immigrant visas were issued in Middle Eastern countries outside of Israel. (The statistics provided for Algeria ran only through January 2002.) In the same period last year, State issued 11,275 immigration visas in these countries.

In South Asia (except for Bangladesh, whose statistics go through January 2002 only), 18,124 were issued compared to 21,902 in the same period last year.

All these numbers refer specifically to the place at which a particular visa was issued, not the nationality of the person receiving it. A small number of people receiving visas in each country could be non-natives sojourning in that state, said State Bureau of Consular Affairs spokeswoman Kelly Shannon.

State has also compiled statistics for immigrant visas based on the birth country of the recipients, though for Algeria and Bangladesh the numbers go through January only. Excluding Israel, 9,133 people born in the Middle East received immigrant visas from September 2001 through February 2002, compared to 13,116 in the same period last year. For South Asia, the numbers are 19,042 and 22,677, respectively.

A congressional source told Human Events in December that the State Department reported to his office that 7,000 men from the 25 countries on State’s al Qaeda "watch list" received visas to enter the United States in the few weeks between late October and December 1. (See Dec. 17, 2001, issue, page 8.) The State Department affirmed last week that its criteria for granting visas have not changed since September 11.

"We do have a supplemental application form for males ages 16 to 45, regardless of their country of origin," Shannon told Human Events last week. "This just enables us to gather more information. This is a temporary measure." The more extensive screening of applicants is all that has changed, she said.

She added, however, that consular officers often exercise their discretion when nationals apply for U.S. visas in a third country—as when a Saudi citizen shows up at the U.S. consular office in London to apply for a visa to come here. "If there is even questionable information, that consular officer would probably recommend that the national travel back to Saudi Arabia and apply there," she said.

But such a person could sometimes still get a visa in the third country. "It depends on their situation, such as if they have been to the United States before, the nature of their business," said Shannon.

Young Iraqis

But no class of people—such as young men from Iraq—is excluded entirely from receiving visas to visit the United States, she said. "Of course not," she answered when asked if any particular set of people from any particular nation is being kept out.

She said that the name of every visa applicant is put through a computer network called the Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS), which includes information from the FBI, foreign governments, and other sources. "They must clear the system or they cannot get a visa," she said.

Once they enter the United States, where they go, what they do, and whether they leave when their visas expire, is something that even the Justice Department cannot fully track, even in the wake of September 11.

The U.S. Justice Department cannot account for about 1,800 of the 4,800 young men who were visiting the United States from countries where al Qaeda is believed to be active and who were sought for voluntary interviews by department attorneys in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

On Nov. 9, 2001, the department announced that it planned to interview 4,793 men aged 18 to 33 who had entered the country since Jan. 1, 2000, on non-immigrant, or temporary, visas. The department sought to interview the men in the hope of gathering information that could be useful in finding terrorists and potential terrorists.

At a March 20 press conference, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft announced the results of the interviews and his intention to seek interviews with 3,000 more men. Of the 4,793 young men sought, he said, only 2,261 were located. "Except for a very small number who declined to be interviewed, the majority of the persons we spoke to made their best effort to provide useful information, the overwhelming majority," said Ashcroft. "In total, approximately one-half of the foreign nationals on the list were located and interviewed."

Justice determined that 680 of the men had probably left the country and that 785 were believed to be here somewhere but could not be found. The Justice Department said it did not know the whereabouts of 1,000 others.

The additional 3,000 young men Justice sought for interviews have entered the United States since November. "Today I am announcing that we are reaching out to a second group of foreign nationals for their assistance in identifying and disrupting terrorist networks," said Ashcroft. "Approximately 3,000 individuals who entered the United States more recently than the first round of interviewees will be asked to speak voluntarily to U.S. officials. In a memorandum sent today, each United States attorney has been directed to assign responsibility to interview these individuals to members of the antiterrorism task forces and to ensure completion of the interviews within 60 days."

Ashcroft said the criteria used to select the additional 3,000 were "similar" to those used previously. "In large measure these will be men who come from a variety of settings and whose passports reflect a variety of settings where there have been strong al Qaeda presences," he said. "I’m not confident that we have the exact same age parameters we’ve had previously."

Considering the inability of the Justice Department to account for at least 1,785 young men allowed into the United States from countries where al Qaeda is believed to be active, some members of Congress feel it is time for the United States to suspend granting visas to visitors from these nations temporarily.

Until the government implements a computerized entry-exit tracking system, biometric visas that cannot be counterfeited, full information-sharing among federal agencies, and other security procedures, they say, visas for nationals of certain nations should be halted.

Terrorist Admission Prevention Act

Rep. Dave Weldon (R.-Fla.) has introduced the Terrorist Admission Prevention (TAP) Act, HR 4010, which would put a moratorium on visas for nationals of 15 countries "until the Department of Justice implements the technology necessary to secure our borders and protect U.S. citizens from terror."

The 15 countries listed in Weldon’s bill are Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The attorney general would be authorized to grant 100 exceptions to the law per country per year.

"Our current border and immigration security systems are incapable of protecting American citizens against another terrorist attack," said Weldon. "[Muhammad] Atta was not on any INS watch list and even if INS officials had suspected Atta, they would not have been able to track his whereabouts in a timely manner. This is because no system is in place to track foreign students electronically, and yet INS continues to issue tens of thousands of foreign student visas."