Study: Many Illegals Arrive With Tourist Visas...

Study: Many Illegals Arrive With Tourist Visas


By Sean Walker
News Net (The Brigham Young University), March 25, 2008

A new study published by the Center for Immigration Studies finds as many as half of the United States' 12 million illegal immigrants arrived legally with temporary nonimmigrant visas. The study claims that as many as two-thirds of Mexican applicants and 88 percent of Russian applicants were granted tourist visas in 2007.

'Our immigration crisis has three main problems,' said David Seminara, the study's author. 'Our borders aren't secure, it's too easy to obtain visas overseas, and once foreigners arrive in the U.S. with visas, it is far too easy for foreign nationals to extend their stays indefinitely by adjusting their visa status or staying illegally.'

The study may shine light onto what many critics have called the 'broken immigration system,' especially important to many voters in this election year. Even this year's crop of presidential candidates is seriously lacking in terms of a well-managed immigration reform policy, Seminara said.

'All three advocate what will essentially be an amnesty for those that have broken our laws,' Seminara said. 'They claim that their plans aren't amnesty because they involve fines, but all three would allow illegal immigrants to stay indefinitely without having to return home. The candidates claim that illegal immigrants would have to join the 'back of the line,' as though immigrating to America were simply a matter of lining up.'

Most lawmakers promoting immigration reform often overlook the problem of overstaying visas. But reform in this area of immigration policy is equally as vital as protecting the borders.

'Indeed, the plans of visa applicants change frequently, and those changes frequently involve overstaying visas,' Seminara said. 'Only tiny portions of those who overstay visas are ever deported.'

Seminara offers lawmakers and lobbyists a few recommendations that may help decrease the number of illegal immigrants who overstay their visa duration, such as creating a new corps of consular officers in the Department of Homeland Security whose focus would be strictly law enforcement and refocusing visa adjudication. Such changes will benefit U.S. economy by 'improving the integrity of our immigration system, reducing the fiscal burden of illegal immigration, and enhancing national security,' Seminara said.




http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/68081