Question by THE Greatest GODDESS JILL: This is breaking news Dallas bomb plot suspect stayed expired visa but Immigrant advocates say thats ok?
WASHINGTON – Like millions of other people classified by the government as illegal immigrants, the Jordanian teen accused of plotting to blow up a Dallas office tower final week arrived in the United States legally and stayed long after his visa expired.
Federal immigration officials mentioned Tuesday that Hosam Smadi, 19, arrived on a visitor visa, not a student visa as at first believed, in spring 2007.
The distinction is crucial: For foreign college students, dropping out of school triggers a report to a central database and, often, a stick to-up by immigration authorities. For these who arrive as tourists or workers, it really is practically particular authorities will not take recognize unless they apply for a driver’s license, get pulled over or arrested or call consideration to themselves.
Officials in many federal agencies had been reluctant to say a lot more about Smadi on Tuesday, citing the ongoing investigation. It really is unclear when Smadi or his parents obtained the visa – Jordanians can get visas that expire in 5 years, so he could have been as young as 11 or 12.
The moment a visa-holder arrives with a “B2″ visitor visa – the kind Smadi apparently received – he has six months to look for an extension or leave the United States.
Jordanian authorities say he spent time in detention when he was 14 or so, for a theft his father says he had reported to teach his son a lesson. It is unclear if U.S. authorities knew about that situation, nor whether it would have held up his visa if they did.
However he got here and nonetheless long he stayed, Smadi came underneath scrutiny due to the fact, the FBI alleges, he expressed jihadist views on a monitored Internet website.
“Unfortunately, a lot of folks are coming in for the incorrect reasons – to harm Americans or kill Americans, rather than as an innocent tourist,” mentioned Rep. Lamar Smith of San Antonio, the senior Republican on the Home Judiciary Committee. “When you come into the country on a tourist visa, you’ve passed ‘Go.’ Folks know they’re home free and there is no work produced to retain track of them.”
In 1996, Smith wrote a bill – signed into law by President Bill Clinton – requiring the federal government to develop a technique to track each the entry and exit of foreign site visitors. Thirteen years later, it really is nevertheless a perform in progress.
The Homeland Security Department has been developing a program referred to as U.S.-Go to for numerous years.
The program compares biometric information with security databases, largely to ensure that a foreigner arriving at a U.S. airport or land crossing isn’t making use of someone else’s passport. The data is stored. But, because most ports of entry don’t identify departing foreigners, it is practically useless for tracking how many men and women – let alone which men and women – stayed longer than they had been supposed to.
Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, don’t dispute that.
Four of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had overstayed their visas, and that concern has vexed policymakers and informed the nation’s immigration debate for years.
Immigrant advocates agree that relatively small effort is expended to track down individuals who overstay their visas – although, unlike Smith and other people, they say that is fine. “The government doesn’t monitor computer systems and say: ‘Aha.’ Very honestly, we don’t have the resources for that,” stated Crystal Williams, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “Mainly what you’ll pick up are men and women who are just attempting to earn a living. I would rather see those resources spent on individuals who genuinely imply us harm.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/093009dnmetsmadivisa.3ed7e02.html
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Answer by bobby
go figure
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