Bush Announces a Crackdown on Visa Violators
The New York Times
October 30, 2001
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
WASHINGTON,
Oct. 29 — President Bush moved today to tighten immigration controls in order
to keep potential terrorists out of the United States, partly by cracking down
on foreigners who have stayed beyond the terms of their visas.
The president announced the creation of a new group of
officials who will work to find and deport foreigners who have overstayed visas
or are otherwise in the country illegally. Officials have said that at least
two of the terrorists who carried out
the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon had overstayed their visas.
Mr. Bush made his announcement at the White House, in the
first meeting of the Homeland Security Council. The president said his
administration would work to make sure that foreign students who obtained visas
to study in the United States actually enrolled in class, or left the country.
Officials say one terrorist in the Sept. 11 attacks obtained a student visa to attend
a Berlitz language course in California but never showed up for class.
"We're going to start asking a lot of questions that
heretofore have not been asked," Mr. Bush said.
The White House provided few details on how the new controls
would be carried out or paid for. Officials at the State
Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
the agencies responsible for issuing and tracking visas, said they knew nothing
beyond the announcement. State Department spokesmen referred reporters to immigration
officials, but immigration officials referred reporters back to the State
Department.
As part of its broader investigation into terrorism, the
Justice Department has detained more than 1,000 people since the
Sept. 11 attacks. Civil liberties advocates say the
government's refusal to disclose the identities of many of those held, or to specify
charges, raises the specter of secret detentions. [Page B1.]
The White House announcement today seemed largely intended
to reassure Americans that the government was moving aggressively to forestall
further terrorist attacks. The president was aided in that task by two members
of his family: his father, former President George Bush, and his brother Jeb,
governor of Florida.
In Chicago, the former president helped Mayor Richard M.
Daley reopen the Sears Tower observation deck, which had been closed since
Sept. 11. "By reopening this symbol of strength and vitality in America's
heartland," Mr. Bush said, "you're sending a clear message that the
terrorists have failed."
In New York, Jeb Bush said on the ABC News television
program "Good Morning America" that his brother had "transformed
himself," had "risen to this challenge" and was "a lot like
my father in a lot of ways."
In Washington, Mr. Ridge, the director of homeland security,
said Attorney General John Ashcroft would lead the new immigration tracking
team — the president called it the "terrorist tracking task force" —
and would have what Mr. Ridge described as "a pretty broad"
portfolio.
"The attorney general will take a look at all policies
and procedures relating to access of non-citizens to this country," Mr.
Ridge said. He said it was not yet clear whether the policy
would require new legislation.
Before the attacks, the Bush administration had moved to be
more open to immigration. Although Mr. Bush had made no final decision, Mr.
Ashcroft and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell recommended in July that the administration
allow some of the three million Mexicans who are in the United States illegally
to apply for permanent status.
In the current climate, however, that plan has been shelved,
at least for the foreseeable future.
"It's not dead," Ari Fleischer, the White House
press secretary, said at a news briefing this afternoon. But Mr. Fleischer said
that because Mr. Powell and Mr. Ashcroft had been involved with the war in
Afghanistan, fighting anthrax and "other duties," the drafting of the
new immigration policy "has not moved at the pace the president had hoped
it would move."
An official of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
said today that while it would be "premature" to discuss practical steps
that might be recommended by the president's terrorist tracking task force, the
I.N.S. already had a plan in the wings.
That plan, called a "student data collection
system," would allow the immigration service, the State Department, and
colleges and universities to make entries into a shared Internet database
recording the arrival, college registration and curriculum of foreign students
in the United States.
The official said the system was to take effect by 2003
unless Congress decided to finance it more quickly.
The president also announced today that he would tighten
border controls with Canada and Mexico. Specifically, he said his administration
would work with both countries to develop a shared immigration and customs
database. He said he would also increase the number of immigration and customs
agents assigned to fighting terrorism.
"The American people need to know that we're doing
everything we possibly can to prevent and disrupt any attack on
America, and that we're doing everything we can to respond
to attacks," Mr. Bush said after meeting with other top government
officials — including Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the
national security adviser — at the opening session of the Homeland Security
Council, the new, domestic-security equivalent of the National Security
Council.
Mr. Bush also said Americans should continue to go about
their lives, even though the nation was on the highest alert against more
terrorist attacks.
"I recognize it's a fine balance," he said, adding that "every American is a soldier, and every citizen is in this fight."