| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Home Front: WoT | |
| Report Finds U.S. Failing on Overstays of Visas | |
| 2005-10-23 | |
| WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 - The Department of Homeland Security far too frequently fails to follow up on leads that foreign visitors have overstayed their visas, the agency's inspector general says in a new report. The result is an enforcement system that poses little threat of repercussions for tourists, students and others who quietly turn into illegal immigrants, the report says. Of the 301,046 leads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency received in 2004 on possible visa violators, the report says, only 4,164 were formally pursued, resulting in just 671 apprehensions. And while some of those cases are still pending, the inspector general, Richard L. Skinner, predicted that a "minuscule" number of these individuals were ever likely to face deportation, an action generally taken only if a person has a criminal history and is detained. The study estimates that the visa overstay population in the United States is at least 3.6 million people, out of an estimated 9 million to 10 million illegal immigrants. Yet nationally, only 51 full-time agents in the special enforcement unit of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency were assigned in 2004 to work on these cases, the report says. Thus, half of the referrals the auditors examined where not followed up within a two-month period. The unit "could not keep pace with the large volume of lead referrals," the report said, leading the inspector general to question the "effectiveness in identifying, locating and apprehending potential violators." Responding to the report, Michael J. Garcia, the former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the agency focused not on how old a lead was, but "its threat or public safety potential," citing, for example, a case that it pursued immediately involving a violator who was also wanted in the rape of a 14-year-old girl. Many of the leads the agency receives on visa violators also cannot be followed up, Mr. Garcia said, because the individual may have left the country or because they are inaccurate. But he did not dispute the report's basic findings. Just this week, the secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, acknowledged to the Senate Judiciary Committee that his department was not doing enough to prevent illegal immigration. Conservative Republicans told Mr. Chertoff that before they would support a temporary worker program proposed by President Bush, Mr. Chertoff must do a better job of preventing people from illegally crossing the borders or ignoring immigration laws after arriving legally in this country. The Bush program would give legal status for up to six years for certain illegal immigrants already working in the country. "To say it is a disappointment is an understatement," Representative J. D. Hayworth, Republican of Arizona, said of the inspector general's report on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. "ICE is accurate as far as an acronym of being frozen in place in a state of non-enforcement. That is totally unacceptable to the American people."
| |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 Saying there is not enough money for immigration enforcement is pure crap. Immigration is a cash cow for the government. There is a regional immigration center in the city I live in. A friend of mine worked there. She said it wasn't uncommon for her to log in a couple of hundred thousand dollars in fees in a day. And she was just one person, on one of two shifts, in one regional center. |
| Posted by: SC88 2005-10-23 18:53 |
| #9 The point is keeping track of the little buggers, you see, not whether or not the auction is profitable Right on point, It's clearly common sense, and rational security. Raise the price? So only rich Saudis and Chicoms can afford em? I'm willing to pay for the security. Take it from the pork they're tryin to weasel in LA. On point again. Even Demos I know are fed up with the weak shit effort by Gubmint. Choking off our Otherwise, we will only be left with the first thing pols and bureaucrat understand. |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-10-23 16:46 |
| #8 Raise the price? So only rich Saudis and Chicoms can afford em? I'm willing to pay for the security. Take it from the pork they're tryin to weasel in LA. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-10-23 11:31 |
| #7 After watching this "Problem" recurr for many years I've come to the comclusion that the Govt does NOT want to "Solve" any kind of Border Problem with either Mexico or Canada, it's just not worth the effort. The actions of the "Minutemen" simply has the effect of embarrasing the Govt's standing policy of inaction, It'll all die down soon as the spotlight moves away. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-10-23 10:36 |
| #6 Lol. No US, heh. The point is keeping track of the little buggers, you see, not whether or not the auction is profitable. But, since I am very much a capitalist, rationally merging the two makes sense... |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-23 10:11 |
| #5 No, .com. Not enough visas? Raise the price. Supply and Demand, a Law the government can (and must) live with. |
| Posted by: Ulenter Slack9684 2005-10-23 10:01 |
| #4 Just a thought, but shouldn't the visas issued be limited in number to what they can actually manage? Determine the rational number that one agent can track and keep tabs on and go from there. Not enough visas? Tough shit. No one "likes" America anyway, that's what all the fuckwit polls say - we see 'em everyday... they can stay the fuck home and attend good ol' ShitholeSocioFacisTranzIslamonutzMoonbat U. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-23 09:48 |
| #3 Bomb-a-rama, The question is, would the government fix the immigration problem if the tax dollars were coming in? So far, there's been no reason to believe that would actually happen. ..there it is. dittos |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-10-23 06:03 |
| #2 It's going to take some tax dollars to fix the immigration problem. The question is, would the government fix the immigration problem if the tax dollars were coming in? So far, there's been no reason to believe that would actually happen. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-10-23 04:28 |
| #1 RFID the passports and the person. (they don't need to know.). |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-10-23 03:03 |