visas

Staggering number of visa overstays now biggest problem in illegal immigration

Article title: 
Staggering number of visa overstays now biggest problem in illegal immigration
Article subtitle: 
740K illegal immigrants came legally but didn’t leave in time in 2016
Article author: 
Stephen Dinan
Article publisher: 
The Washington Times
Article date: 
Mon, 05/22/2017
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

The nexus of illegal immigration into the U.S. has shifted away from the southwest border and into the country’s air and sea ports, where more than 54 million visitors checked in last year — and nearly 630,000 of them didn’t go home, according to new numbers released Monday.

Known as visa overstays, the visitors present a different challenge than the border crossers, and one that Homeland Security officials are still trying to figure out how to handle.

“This report shows that we have a problem with visa overstays in the United States,” a senior administration official said in briefing reporters on the new numbers, vowing to step up enforcement to try to cut down on the violations.

The Trump administration’s report stands in contrast to the Obama administration, which played down the numbers last year when officials released a similar report, focusing on the vast majority of travelers who did comply and leave when they were supposed to.

Dallas Ebola Patient Was Another Visa Mistake

Article title: 
Dallas Ebola Patient Was Another Visa Mistake
Article author: 
Jessica Vaughn
Article publisher: 
Center for Immigration Studies
Article date: 
Wed, 10/01/2014
Article importance: 
High
Article body: 

Look up "likely visa overstay" in the dictionary, and you should find a picture of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who is the first Ebola case diagnosed within the United States, and who is now being treated in a Dallas hospital.

This looks like another good case for the consular officers training manual of a non-immigrant visa that never should have been issued, but which could have serious public health consequences, not to mention monetary costs.

According to his Facebook page and other reports, Duncan is a 40-something, single, unemployed Liberian living in Ghana who applied sometime in the last year for a visa to visit his sister in the United States.

That is five strikes against his application:

  1. Single
  2. Unemployed
  3. Liberian (5th highest overstay rate of any country in the world)
  4. Living outside country of citizenship
  5. Sister living in the United States.

Together, all these factors should have weighed very heavily against the issuance of a visitor's visa to Duncan. He clearly appears unqualified.

In 2013, more than 3,500 non-immigrant visas were issued to Liberians. This number has grown steadily since 2009, when just over 1,300 were issued. Most are issued to tourists and business travelers. A relatively high percentage do not return, but settle here illegally to join a well-established Liberian community (many of whom have won green cards in the visa lottery).

The federal government has yet to disclose the details of Duncan's immigration history, but it is fair to ask why he was issued a visa in the first place? More importantly, what steps are being taken to prevent others who may be infected from entering the country?

Homeland Security loses track of 1 million foreigners; report could hurt immigration deal

Article title: 
Homeland Security loses track of 1 million foreigners; report could hurt immigration deal
Article author: 
Stephan Dinan
Article publisher: 
The Washington Times
Article date: 
Tue, 07/30/2013
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 
The Homeland Security Department has lost track of more than 1 million people who it knows arrived in the U.S. but who it cannot prove left the country, according to an audit Tuesday that also found the department probably won’t meet its own goals for deploying an entry-exit system.
 
The findings were revealed as Congress debates an immigration bill, and the Government Accountability Office’s report could throw up another hurdle because lawmakers in the House and Senate have said that any final deal must include a workable system to track entries and exits and cut down on so-called visa overstays.

 

Strict border entry rules are being largely ignored

Article title: 
Strict border entry rules are being largely ignored
Article author: 
Catholic Online
Article publisher: 
Catholic Online
Article date: 
Wed, 12/22/2010
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

New government audit shows many discrepancies and inconsistencies

U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspectors were supposed to start enforcing stringent ID requirements at the nation's land borders more than a year and a half ago. Even with increased concerns about terrorism, new audit has proven that millions of travelers are still being admitted without passports or other secure IDs.

Auditors wrote that the agency 'continues to incur risk' that it will admit travelers falsely claiming to be citizens of the U.S., Canada, Bermuda and Mexico.

Auditors wrote that the agency 'continues to incur risk' that it will admit travelers falsely claiming to be citizens of the U.S., Canada, Bermuda and Mexico.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - An Office of Inspector General found that the border patrol remains unprepared to fully implement the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which officially took effect in June 2009 and requires all travelers -- including U.S. citizens, to carry passports or one of a handful of other forms of secure ID.

 

 

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