Immigrations proposals would skip the millions who overstay visas

May 20, 2006

Border enforcement legislation proposed by the Bush administration and by both houses of Congress would do nothing to regulate the millions of immigrants who came to the U.S. on legal visas never left when their visas expired. Some consider the group a greater threat to national security than those who cross the Mexico border to enter the U.S.

Estimates are that 40 percent or almost five million of the 12 million illegal aliens currently in the country, are actually foreign visitors who overstayed their visas. Analysts say these visa violators represent a larger number of illegal immigrants in the New England area, especially around Boston, with its huge student population and large concentration of European immigrants.

Proposals put forward by President Bush and legislation passed by each house of Congress focus heavily on sealing the Mexican border by deploying National Guard troops, building fences, and using new technologies.

Such border enforcement will have no impact on ''visa overstays,' because they don't cross the border illegally in the first place.

A potential terrorist who can obtain a valid visa is more likely to enter the United States legally than to risk apprehension by trying to sneak across the border with Mexico, said the Migration Institute. Two of the 19 September 11 hijackers were in the United States on expired visas. Six others had otherwise violated immigration laws but were nevertheless able to stay in the United States, according to the 9/11 Commission report.

Visas are given through the U.S. embassy for a variety of reasons -- travel, study, business, for example -- and for varying lengths of time.

The fact that the immigration proposals currently under discussion overlook 40 percent of the problem suggests that political pressure, not national security concerns, is driving the push to seal the borders.

Of the $1.95 billion border security request President Bush filed recently, only $30 million will go toward tracking down and monitoring those who overstay legally obtained visas, said Michael P. Jackson, deputy secretary of Homeland Security. Administration officials say proposed tamper-proof identification cards will also crack down on those who stay in the country with expired visas by making it harder for them to get work.

''The predominant focus of this emergency supplemental request is on the border,' he said.

Immigration specialists and independent observers have long identified significant shortcomings in the government's efforts to find and prosecute those who have stayed in the country on expired visas. A 2005 report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found ''deficiencies' in resources and bureaucracy that ''result in a minimal impact in reducing the number of overstays in the United States.'

The DHS had only 51 full-time agents assigned to track down the more than 4 million people who overstayed visas and were in the country in 2004, the report said. Immigration specialists say that a comprehensive crackdown on those who overstay visas would require thousands of additional investigators, as well as an enhanced system to track every visitor who enters and leaves the country.

The report also found that, of the 301,046 leads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency received in a one-year period on possible visa violations, fewer than half were investigated. Only 4,164 were referred to field agents to pursue, and 671 apprehensions were made.

''We're nowhere near where we need to be,' said John Keeley, a spokesman for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. ''I don't know that a policy of crossing your fingers and holding your breath is wise in a post-9/11 world.'

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, focused political attention on visa overstays and spurred Congress to beef up efforts to track them. Since then, the State Department has conducted more rigorous background checks on those who are seeking visas, and immigration enforcement officers check to make sure that those in the United States on student visas are actually pursuing education at a certified institution.

In addition, since 2004, most visitors to the United States have been photographed and fingerprinted upon entry, through the US-VISIT program. The data allow agents to track them down if authorities receive information that suggests they are security threats.

But officials acknowledge that US-VISIT has serious limitations. It tracks everyone entering the country, but it is a pilot program, tracking only those leaving through 12 airports and two seaports. Expanding that program nationwide is several years off. That means that government officials have nowhere near a complete picture of the visitors who have overstayed their visas, since they don't know for certain who has left, said Janice L. Kephart, a former counsel to the 9/11 Commission.

''They can stay as long as they want, since there is no follow-up,' said Kephart, who is now a private security consultant.

Representative Dan Lungren, a California Republican who has been critical of the lack of enforcement against visa overstays, said lawmakers should be just as concerned about those who overstay their visas as they are about border crossers.

He said solutions like border fencing and using the National Guard are a ''down payment' to convince Americans that Congress is serious about cracking down. He said he and other House Republicans will work to make sure that visa violators are also dealt with as part of any comprehensive immigration measure.

''We've got to go back to that issue,' Lungren said. ''We need to be doing more interior enforcement. . . . It is as worrisome as the border issue.'