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February 12, 2010
Exclusive: Visa Security a Critical Component in Preventing Terrorist Attacks
A couple of weeks ago, I had a rare opportunity to speak with Asa Hutchinson, former undersecretary for border and transportation security at DHS, and Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of Homeland Security. We were traveling by limousine after a “War on Drugs” symposium at the Chaptman School of Law in Orange County, California. This week, Mr. Hutchinson penned an analysis entitled “Visa security is critical to preventing terrorist attacks.”
During our conversation, Mr. Chertoff and I certainly found many areas of disagreement.
When I discussed the continuing failures to complete a fence on our southern border, he touted the hundreds of miles of fence that were completed, noting that there were ranchers who were raising hell about the construction of border fences on their land. I replied that I found it unfathomable that "Eminent Domain" had been invoked in a number of high profile cases to justify seizing homeowners' land and property to build commercial projects but that the complaints of ranchers was enough to stymie the federal government from constructing barriers to prevent the entry of criminals, illegal drugs and potentially terrorists. I also asked Mr. Chertoff if he thought that perhaps the protesting ranchers were upset that the fences might block the entry of illegal aliens they sought to employ.
On another issue, I cited the outrageous rate of fraud in the immigration benefits program. I noted that this represented a threat to national security. His response was to say that immigration was not a part of the "War on Terror" but that the immigration laws should be enforced for their own sake. While I agree that the immigration laws should be enforced for their own sake, I take issue with his contention that immigration should not be considered a component of the "War on Terror!" That the former Secretary of Homeland Security would disagree that the security of our nation's borders and the creation of an immigration system that possesses real integrity could not be considered a major component of our government's efforts to wage a successful war against the terrorists who wish to come to the United States and commit acts of terror against our nation and our citizens left me outraged. I suggested that he ought to consider the findings of the 9/11 Commission in its report and on the report known as the "9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel."
While I did not quote from the latter of the two reports when I spoke with Mr. Chertoff, here is the first paragraph of the preface of that volume I think is highly relevant:
“It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country. Yet prior to September 11, while there were efforts to enhance border security, no agency of the U.S. government thought of border security as a tool in the counterterrorism arsenal. Indeed, even after 19 hijackers demonstrated the relative ease of obtaining a U.S. visa and gaining admission into the United States, border security still is not considered a cornerstone of national security policy. We believe, for reasons we discuss in the following pages, that it must be made one.”
Mr. Chertoff defended his position about the lack of resources for the interior enforcement mission by asking me where I would get the money to hire what I might consider to be an adequate number of agents and other personnel for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). I told him that juggling the budget was important but that if our nation was attacked again, whatever the cost of allocating adequate resources to enable ICE to do a truly credible job would be eclipsed many times over from a financial perspective and that the lives that, God forbid, might be lost could not be rectified for any amount of money.
Another issue that Mr. Chertoff and I "agreed to disagree" about was the issue of the Visa Waiver Program.
I hate to be repetitive, but this is such a dangerous program that I am compelled to once again provide you with my list of benefits to be accrued if all aliens seeking to enter the United States were first required to apply for and receive a visa if the Visa Waiver Program was to be ended.
Here is the list of the 6 benefits that the visa requirement provides to national security:
1. By requiring visas of aliens who seek to enter the United States, this process helps to screen potential passengers on airliners that are destined to the United States. Richard Reid, the so-called "Shoe Bomber" was able to board an airliner to come to the United States although he had no intentions of entering the United States, his apparent goal was to blow up the airliner and its many passengers somewhere over the depths of the Atlantic Ocean by detonating explosives he had concealed in his shoes. Because he is a subject of Great Britain, a country that participates in the Visa Waiver Program, Reid did not obtain a visa before he boarded that airliner.
2. The CBP inspectors are supposed to make a decision in one minute or less as to the admissibility of an alien seeking to enter the United States. The visa requirement helps them to do a more effective job.
3. The application for a nonimmigrant visa contains roughly 40 questions that could provide invaluable information to law enforcement officials should that alien become the target of a criminal or terrorist investigation. The information could provide intelligence as well as investigative leads.
4. If an alien applicant lies on the application for a visa that lie is called "visa fraud." The maximum penalty for visa fraud starts out at 10 years in jail for those who commit this crime simply in order to come to the United States, ostensibly to seek unlawful employment or other such purpose. The penalty increases to 15 years in jail for those aliens who obtain a visa to commit a felony. For aliens who engage in visa fraud to traffic in narcotics or commit another narcotics-related crime, the maximum jail sentence that can be imposes rises to 20 years. Finally, when an alien can be proven to have engaged in visa fraud in furtherance of terrorism, the maximum penalty climbs to 25 years in prison. It is important to note that while it may be difficult to prove that an individual is a terrorist, it is usually relatively simple to prove that the alien has committed visa fraud when there is fraud involved in the visa application. Indeed, terror suspects are often charged with visa fraud.
5. The charge of visa fraud can also be extremely helpful to law enforcement authorities who want to take a bad guy off the street without tipping their hand to the other members of a criminal conspiracy or terrorism conspiracy that the individual arrested was being arrested for his involvement in terrorism or a criminal organization. You can arrest the alien who commits visa fraud for that violation of law and not for other charges that might make it clear that the investigation underway is targeting a criminal or terrorist organization.
6. Even when an alien applies for a visa and his application is denied, the application he filed remains available for law enforcement and intelligence personnel to review to seek to glean intelligence from that application.
With regard to the article by Mr. Hutchinson linked above, it is interesting that he touts the value of the visa requirement, when it is properly administered but, of course, "The devil is in the details." Mr. Hutchinson failed discuss the need for more translators and the screening system by which the translators are vetted to make certain that they are not compromising our national security by actually being aligned with those who would do us harm.
He also failed to discuss how visa fraud is investigated once an alien enters our country if, in fact, he (she) successfully gamed the immigration system to acquire resident alien status or be granted political asylum through fraud.
He did, however, bring up the positive effects of the visa requirement in his opening sentence:
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day is another reminder that a visa is priceless to a terrorist.
Indeed, a visa is priceless to a terrorist – but what of those terrorists who possess passports from one of those 35 countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program and thus don't need a visa to seek to enter our country?
Yet Mr. Hutchinson failed to discuss the Visa Waiver Program that eliminates all of the benefits he listed that an effectively managed visa program provides for our nation.
How many times have we heard our nation's politicians demand to know why no one "connected the dots" to prevent terrorist attacks?
Did we not hear Ms. Napolitano, the current Secretary of DHS say "the system worked" when the bomb Abdulmutallab carried on that airliner he planned to destroy in the skies over Detroit failed to detonate?
If hope is not a strategy, then dumb luck is not a success.
The problem is not a failure by our officials to connect the dots, it is that with so many components of the immigration system having been so terribly compromised because of the politicization of this critical system, few of our nation's leaders are willing to recognize the dots.
Going back to my discussion with Mr. Chertoff and Mr. Hutchinson, I was pleasantly surprised that Chertoff was willing to have that discussion with me in the limo. He could have refused to answer my comments. I believe in giving credit where it’s due.
After our series of disagreements, Chertoff asked me, "Why is it that those who support your concerns about border security and the creation of an immigration system that has real integrity only get out there occasionally and barely get their voices heard one hour a week while your opponents are ‘out there’ in huge numbers 24/7 making a racket that no one can ignore?"
He went on to say. "Politicians will go where they perceive the votes are."
On this point, he is absolutely correct. Americans who fail, for one reason or another, get the government that they deserve. This is why I urge all Americans to make it their obligation to get their voices heard.
My goal is to point out our nation’s many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government. The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Michael Cutler is a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a recognized authority who addresses the implications of immigration on national security and criminal justice. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
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Good column as usual Mr. Cutler. I do somewhat take issue with Chertoff saying that those of us who support real immigration reform (i.e., Duncan Hunter-style fencing, workplace raids, attrition through enforcement of existing laws etc.) do not make our voices heard.
While of course many Americans are sadly apathetic, many of us DO in fact try to make our voices heard, but we are continually ignored and slandered by the MSM that instead bombards us with incessant template sob stories of the "poor undocumented immigrant who just wants to work" -- without anaylzing the much larger issues involved.
Credible polling such as from Rasmussen continually shows that those who support amnesty are in fact the "noisy" minority. I am glad that alternative media such as talk radio allows us to properly present our side and awaken citizens to the destructive impacts of mass illegal (and legal) immigration.
posted by: Stan
Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 12:09 AM
