From: matus [matus@snet.net] Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 7:32 PM To: matus@snet.net Subject: MFD List - Bush seeks tighter immigration rules (In a misguided attempt to make our country safer, Bush is seeking to make it more difficult to become an American. For a country that is made of immigrants, imposing tighter regulations on immigration will be counter productive. In fact, the more people of greater diversity in the US the more difficult it is for people to maintain an animosity toward it. Because people from other countries will and do know family members in the US, and those family members have close friends that have multigeneration US citizens, it is difficult to perpetaute the tribalism required to justify horrendous acts. Of course, on the flip side of the coin, if we shut our self out to 'high risk' nationalities, it may in the short term make us safer against domestic acts performed by these people, but in the long term it will do more harm then good as it will serve only to strengthen a foriegner's contention of 'THEM' being different. The better you know your enemy, the harder it is to hate them. And it is difficult to grow and live in this country and still despire everyone you come in contact with. - Mike) Bush seeks tighter immigration rules ---------- Washington Post Citing the needs of the war against terrorism, President Bush says that he wants to tighten immigration laws and requirements for student visas. (10/30/01) from - http://www.free-market.net/rd/512973430.html Bush Seeks Tighter Rules on Entry Plan Would Track Students, Step Up Efforts to Deport Suspects By Mike Allen and Eric Pianin Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, October 30, 2001; Page A01 President Bush, changing the direction of his immigration policy, said yesterday that he wants to tighten immigration laws and requirements for student visas to deter would-be terrorists from entering the country. Bush said the government will step up efforts to deport foreign nationals suspected of supporting terrorism. Lawmakers working with the administration said measures being considered include using technology to track foreign students as they travel around the United States and to check immigrants' palm prints at airports and borders. Sixteen of the 19 terrorists who hijacked planes last month were visiting the United States legally, according to a Justice Department official. One of the other three hijackers had a student visa but was not in school. Bush outlined his immigration goals, avoiding specifics, at the inaugural meeting of his Homeland Security Council, which he said will be responsible for protecting "the American people from any threat whatsoever." Charging that some noncitizens have "taken advantage" of America's "generous" immigration rules, he named a Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force to recommend specific changes in laws and procedures. "We're going to tighten up the visa policy," Bush said. "That's not to say we're not going to let people come into our country; of course we are. But we're going to make sure that when somebody comes, we understand their intended purpose and that they fulfill the purpose." Bush singled out student visas, saying that some recipients never attend classes, and perhaps never have that intention. "We're going to start asking a lot of questions that heretofore have not been asked," Bush said. "We're generous with our universities, we're generous with our job opportunities. . . . Never did we realize then that people would take advantage of our generosity to the extent they have." The review of immigration laws is the latest legislative response to the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings. On Friday, Bush signed a bill giving law enforcement agencies broad powers to pursue terrorists through search warrants and eavesdropping. He also has signed a bailout for the airline industry and recovery funds for the areas where the planes crashed, and he is seeking an economic stimulus package. The new approach to immigration follows Bush's earlier effort to make it easier for citizens of Mexico to work in the United States legally. Bush has not abandoned that goal, but it is now on the back burner, administration officials said. "By far, the vast majority of people who have come to America are really good, decent people -- people that we're proud to have here," Bush said. "There are some who are evil. And our job now is to find the evil ones and to bring them to justice." According to a "fact sheet" distributed by the White House, "Improving legal immigration remains a priority for the Bush administration, but the Bush administration is committed to ensuring that our immigration policies and practices do not allow terrorists to enter or remain in the United States." Marlene Johnson, executive director of the Association of International Educators, which promotes exchanges of students and scholars, said her group supports inquiries into the validity of student visa requests. But she added, "It is not good for the country to think that it solves the intelligence issues, which are clearly at the root of terrorism." The White House said the task force would coordinate federal efforts to deny entry into the United States of people who are "associated with, suspected of being engaged in, or supporting terrorist activity" and to "locate, detain, prosecute, or deport any such aliens already present" in the country. White House officials said they have bipartisan support for such measures. In particular, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) plan to introduce a bill this week to set up an automated system for tracking foreign students and give the State Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service electronic access to FBI and CIA "lookout lists" of potential criminals and terrorists. The measure would call for sophisticated identification technology, such as instant fingerprinting and hand imaging, at all customs ports. "Congress stands ready to give the administration whatever additional authority may be needed to protect our borders," Kennedy said yesterday. Congress last passed a series of anti-terrorist immigration laws in 1996, following the Oklahoma City bombing. As a result, the number of INS detainees skyrocketed. The laws required the detention of asylum seekers arriving in the United States without documents and broadened the definition of a felony, applying the change retroactively. In June, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the government may not imprison immigrants indefinitely, that legal residents are entitled to have their cases reviewed by a court before facing deportation, and that new deportation rules could not be applied retroactively. Lawmakers, troubled by injustices wrought by the 1996 laws, also introduced bills to overturn some of the harshest provisions. After Mexican President Vicente Fox's visit to Washington in early September, it seemed likely that policies would be adopted to help thousands of undocumented families regularize their status. But that was before Sept. 11. Immigration experts suggested that any effort to improve tracking of foreigners would require tightening identification requirements for visa seekers, probably by recording a visitor's fingerprints or other unique physical characteristics, known as biometrics. "This is the way to go, and the technology is there now," said Don Hamilton, deputy director of the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism. Biometric identification would tie visa applicants to a single identity and a single passport, he said. For foreigners living in the United States, the ramifications could be even greater, especially if biometric identity checks were linked to employment. Hamilton predicted that this would be a more difficult change because immigration advocates and employers seeking cheap labor would object. The State Department plans to announce today that it is reviewing six of the 29 countries whose citizens are allowed to visit the United States for short periods without obtaining visas. The countries under review -- Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Uruguay -- could be dropped from the list of "visa waiver" countries. The countries have problems ranging from economic crises to passport fraud and theft. One official said the review had been scheduled before the Sept. 11 attacks but is now on an accelerated schedule and could result in recommendations by year's end. Staff writers Guy Gugliotta and Mary Beth Sheridan contributed to this report. © 2001 The Washington Post Company www.matus1976.com