Last year 2.9 million foreign visitors checked in on temporary visas but never officially checked out, according to immigration officials.  It is estimated that several hundred thousand of them simply do not leave. according to the New York Times:

Since 2004, homeland security officials have put systems in place to check all foreigners as they arrive, whether by air, sea or land. Customs officers now take fingerprints and digital photographs of visitors from most countries, instantly comparing them against law enforcement watch list databases. (Canadians and Mexicans with special border-crossing cards are exempt from those checks.)

But homeland security officials said that a series of pilot programs since 2004 had failed to yield an exit monitoring system that would work for the whole nation. They have not yet found technology to support speedy exit inspections at land borders. And airlines balked at an effort last year by the Bush administration to make them responsible for taking fingerprints and photographs of departing foreigners.

The current system relies on departing foreigners to turn in a paper stub when they leave.

Last week’s terrorist plot brought this problem to a head, once again.  New concerns over national security were sparked by a 19-year-old Jordanian who had overstayed his tourist visa and who has been accused  of plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. 

Congress has repeatedly mandated verification that visitors have left the country but it still is not being done.  Verification of entry and exit of the United States is a must  for both national security and if the government is serious about curbing illegal immigration.  Currently, estimates indicate that about 40%  of all illegal aliens living in the United States overstayed a visa.

All the ‘Secure our Border’ signs in the world won’t take care of 40% of the problem. 

 Further reading: New York Times

44 Thoughts to “US Cannot Track Visitors on Foreign Visas”

  1. Starryflights

    I never understood the rationale for building a big ol’ fence on the southern border when nearly half of all illegal immigrants simply fly over it on an airplane.

  2. Second-Alamo

    Be careful what you wish for. Perhaps it’s time to consider reducing the number of visas and other means of getting into the country. More stringent background checks of those obtaining visas, or some better method of identification may be required. Why is it that the government knows exactly where I am pretty much all the time, but can’t keep track of those who must leave eventually? Once again, a secure national ID card would sure be a good idea, and yet there are those who state that it would be an invasion of privacy or some other such paranoia.

  3. GainesvilleResident

    I really don’t understand why this is so hard to do. Then again, the gov’t can’t easily implement any computer system. However, it wouldn’t be hard to design a system that held all the records for those who’ve entered the US on Visas, and then checked daily to see that those who’s Visas have expired have left. One would have thought they would have done that a very long time ago.

  4. Starryflights

    Second-Alamo :Be careful what you wish for. Perhaps it’s time to consider reducing the number of visas and other means of getting into the country. More stringent background checks of those obtaining visas, or some better method of identification may be required. Why is it that the government knows exactly where I am pretty much all the time, but can’t keep track of those who must leave eventually? Once again, a secure national ID card would sure be a good idea, and yet there are those who state that it would be an invasion of privacy or some other such paranoia.

    You’re right – be careful of what you wish for. You really want to carry around a National Identification Card?

  5. I don’t care if I have to carry a national ID card. I think it’s a pretty good idea–except it could get stolen just like SS cards. Biometrics is a better idea. It’s harder to steal someone’s thumb.

  6. Rick Bentley

    Let it not be forgotten that the President’s own dear Aunt, who he holds in high regard, pulled this and in fact lived many years in taxpayer-subsidized housing while doing it. So I guess it’s okay.

    Obama has said nothing on this and watched while a judge, quite possibly because of who the woman is, has given her a lengthy stay with which to continue to hang out here. Meanwhile Obama stumps for Amnesty.

  7. Pat.Herve

    I would welcome a national identification card – it would provide a mechanism to insure that employers only hire legal employees. Currently, employers are responsible to validate the I-9 form, and they say it is too hard to determine if the provided documents are accurate. It could also be used to determine if people have drivers licenses in other states – a flag that some are running away from some obligation.

    What we have now – is do nothing – and try to stall any reforms. Since 9/11, we have not reformed our identification system at all – Real ID has not been enacted by many states, and our system has not changed – Why? Because the current system suits many influential individuals.

    What is the big objection to a National ID Card??? –

  8. Rick Bentley

    “You really want to carry around a National Identification Card?”

    YES.

  9. Moon-howler

    I wouldn’t object to a National Identification Card, especially if it would make the country safer. It would actually combine many forms of ID all in to one.

  10. Moon-howler

    I wouldn’t object to a National Identification Card, especially if it would make the country safer. It would actually combine many forms of ID all in to one.

    I know some people go ballistic over the thought of a National ID and I have never understood why. Perhaps someone will give us that point of view.

  11. Rick Bentley

    Part of it is paranoia induced by people taking the New Testament literally and feeling this is moving us towards having the “number of the beast” stamped upon us.

    Pretty silly. If you take the New Tetament as it reads – a hallucinogenic story – you’ll be waiting for “four trumpets to blow from the four corners of the Earth”.

  12. GainesvilleResident

    I also am fine with the National ID Card. It would be not much different than carrying around a driver’s license, in my opinion.

  13. Moon-howler

    Oh Geez. I didn’t realize the paranoia was about prophecy. Is that related to the euro being the mark of the beast?

    Pardon my irreverence. That is the dumbest reason in the world for not having a national ID.

    2nd Alamo, why does the govt. always know where you are? Should we all be suspicious? 😉

  14. A PW County Resident

    Rick Bentley :Part of it is paranoia induced by people taking the New Testament literally and feeling this is moving us towards having the “number of the beast” stamped upon us.
    Pretty silly. If you take the New Tetament as it reads – a hallucinogenic story – you’ll be waiting for “four trumpets to blow from the four corners of the Earth”.

    GainesvilleResident :I also am fine with the National ID Card. It would be not much different than carrying around a driver’s license, in my opinion.

    Rick, although I agree that some of that may be true, I think it goes further into world history of the 20th century. One is that the same concerns were raised about social security numbers and the fear that everyone would have to get one to prove something–well it came true. You can’t claim tax exemptions for children without one, and much of your records are tied to social security numbers–hence the identity theft issue. People at the time poo-pooed (technical term alert!) the idea that SSN’s would be so important–well, they did become so.

    The next reason is one I hesitate to say. “Citizenship papers” were a method used by the Third Reich to identify people of Jewish descent. If I remember correctly, the law was passed in 1935 (maybe Posting can help me with this) that said that you could be a citizen of “Reich” only by the granting of citizenship papers. You might still be a citizen of Germany but not of the Reich. So, you were discriminated against (and obviously much, tragically worse) if you weren’t a Reich citizen. But I mention this with some trepidation due to common allusion lately of “Nazi”, “Hitler”, etc. Just giving a historical perspective–not trying to tie a group to this.

    I think my own fear of National ID comes from just the idea that the Federal government will have the ability to give them out, which means that there may be unintended consequences, as well as the ability for mischief intended or not.

  15. A PW County Resident

    Admins, I have a comment in moderation

  16. Rick Bentley

    Yep, 666, tattoos, war in Isreal heralds the Apocolypse, central government headed by “The Beast”, that’s part of the problem I think.

  17. Rick Bentley

    A lot of people do take this stuff seriously, to my amazement … http://www.bible-prophecy.com/mark.htm

    The actual “Mark” is Antichrist’s NAME or NUMBER, not ours.
    It is “worn” as a symbol of worship on the right hand or on the forehead. However, national or international ID numbers are also significant because at the time the Mark is instituted, Antichrist will control all buying and selling, which obviously requires personal identification for all people.

  18. Moon-howler

    PWR, I will try to check it. That is one of our software problems.

  19. Moon-howler

    Reporting back on that moderation. What did it? Using the N and H words. I made them trigger words because I got so sick of them yesterday. I can’t read entire comments in moderation until the software is fixed. So I have to bring them out, look at them, and either leave them or put them back. I decided to allow the N and H words in your post, PWR, because they were part of historical connotation (as opposed to the blog fight use of the words). And I do thank you for responding to the question.

    To all, the ban still stands. I am not saying it is fair. It was an arbitrary decision. It JUST IS.

  20. A PW County Resident

    Sorry, didn’t mean to cause problems. I will try to think of ways to talk historically without some of those words. Thanks for releasing it. That’s why I posted about being in moderation. Figured something was up.

  21. Moon-howler

    You didn’t cause a problem. Thanks for posting that.

  22. @A PW County Resident
    Excellent context! Thank you for that post.

  23. A PW County Resident

    Even if I truly messed up the grammar. Goodness, it is hard to believe I have a BS in Broadcasting and Journalism with that atrocious grammar. I know, you can believe I have BS! 🙂

  24. @A PW County Resident
    I suspect you are referring to the Nuremberg Laws?

    “The Nuremberg Laws (German: Nürnberger Gesetze) of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany which were introduced at the annual Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg. The laws classified people as German if all four of their grandparents were of “German or kindred blood”, while people were classified as Jews if they descended from three or four Jewish grandparents. A person with one or two Jewish grandparents was a Mischling, a crossbreed, of “mixed blood”.[1] The Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriage between Jews and other Germans. [2]”

    “From September 1941 all Jewish people living within the Nazi empire, including Germany, were required to wear a yellow badge, which had been required in Poland beginning in 1939.”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Laws

  25. @A PW County Resident
    Yes, I believe you–we all have a little BS 🙂

    We don’t get paid to blog, right? Shouldn’t put too much time into editing, then. Time is money.

  26. Pat.Herve

    PWResident –

    Yes, they started requiring a ssno for children so that you can take a tax deduction for them – to root out the issue of multiple people claiming the same child, and for people claiming non existent children. As some who say to me, you have a choice, you do not have to claim them. But – I still do not see a big deal with this.

    RE the Third Reich – yes, I can agree with you there, but a properly created National ID would not have your religious information on it – only demographic information.

    And it was the IRS that decided to start using the SS Number as a Taxpayer ID Number, because there was no other identifier.

    I still do not understand why the resistance to a National ID – many other countries in the world have implemented a National ID, and have been successful –

  27. Pat.Herve :
    PWResident –

    RE the Third Reich – yes, I can agree with you there, but a properly created National ID would not have your religious information on it – only demographic information.

    Important to note that being Jewish didn’t just mean being a particular religion–it’s an ethnic and cultural identity.

  28. OMG, I think I finally figured out how to block-quote!!!

  29. Moon-howler

    PWResident, we don’t allow the grammar police in here so don’t worry. I didn’t even notice.

    Would you oppose a National ID system?

    My Canadian friends were dumb-founded that I didn’t have one.

  30. A PW County Resident

    As often as this does not happen, I am on the fence about a National ID system. In many ways, it seems like a way to actually figure out who the people in this country are. On the other hand, it seems like a way to actually figure out who the people in this country are. I know it sounds facetious but really I see it as the proverbial two-edged sword.

    I have some experience dealing with the Federal government and bureaocracy. If the Congress passes something with I hope ar good intentions, there are thousands of people in the government who can read the law many different ways. (Not a slam against our public servants as I was one, it is the system that causes the problem.) I just don’t trust good ideas to remain good once it is overanalyzed.

    Although I am not concerned about the biblical reference nor really the SSN, I refuse to believe that an entire country was behind the atrocities in the middle of the last century. I have to believe that most of the people were good people. But it didn’t take much to get a country into an evil place. So I guess I think that people can be led into places they would not want to be in the name of nationalism. Just distrustful.

  31. A PW County Resident

    Sometimes I think about Sneetches too!

  32. Moon-howler

    I think you bring up some good points. What sounds good might very well be misunderstood, misinterpretted, or misapplied. Those rascally unintended consequences again. On the other hand, it sounds like such a simple idea.

    Of course, finding a way to track entry and exit of foreigners on visas sounds like a simple idea also. Apparently it isn’t.

  33. Moon-howler

    What are sneetches? anything like skeeters?

  34. A PW County Resident

    Sneetches are things from a Dr. Seuss book. They are animals with a star on their bellies who discriminate against other sneetches who don’t have the star. So someone comes up with a machine so everyone had the same star. Not being happy the original starred sneetches paid the guy to remove the star, thus equilibrium was restored in the land of discrimination. But then everyone was putting on and taking off stars.

    Here is a link if you are interested–

    http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=4939528962&topic=3229

  35. Moon-howler

    Thanks. I feel incredibly ignorant. I have never been a Dr. Seuss fan but I should have known that. Not sure how one makes themselves like Dr. Suess. That Cat in the Hat makes me want to punch him. Am I a psychopath?

  36. A PW County Resident

    Sneetches is an important social commentary. Especially for someone from the Civil Rights arena. It is probably also one of his obscure ones too.

    So don’t feel bad, many don’t know about Sneetches but they should and they should read it to their kids and then discuss about people being different than the majority. It may actually improve things sometimes.

  37. Moon-howler

    Good suggestion. It sounds like a good idea for Christmas gifts for nieces, nephews, kids, neighbors or grandchildren.

    I have always thought that the cavemen commercials were genius. There is no one to get offended. Some of those commericals teach a good lesson, perhaps unintentionally.

  38. Second-Alamo

    Lets see, all the personal information on tax forms, birth certificates, drivers license, service records…………………you’re right Starryflights I’d hate to have a National ID Card, why the government might actually find some information about me. Oops, Too Late!

  39. Last Best Hope

    Might I suggest a health care story next? There was some big news today. Our next big entitlement program did not die in committee as planned.

  40. Moon-howler

    You got it LBH…have at it.

  41. @A PW County Resident
    Great book! It reminds me of Jane Elliott’s famous, controversial “blue eyed/brown eyed” experiment done in a classroom.

    Jane Elliott’s Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Experiment on Racism

    After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, school teacher Jane Elliott wanted to teach her third-grade class about racism. Rather than a lengthy discussion about it, she decided to show the 8-year-olds what racism is all about in a famous “experiment”:

    With King shot just the day before in Memphis, Elliott encouraged her third-graders to discuss how something so horrible could happen.

    “I finally said, ‘Do you kids have any idea how it feels to be something other than white in this country?’ ”

    The children shook their heads and said they wanted to learn, so Elliott set the rules. Blue-eyed children must use a cup to drink from the fountain. Blue-eyed children must leave late to lunch and to recess. Blue-eyed children were not to speak to brown-eyed children. Blue-eyed children were troublemakers and slow learners.

    Within 15 minutes, Elliott says, she observed her brown-eyed students morph into youthful supremacists and blue-eyed children become uncertain and intimidated.

    Brown-eyed children “became domineering and arrogant and judgmental and cool,” she says. “And smart! Smart! All of a sudden, disabled readers were reading. I thought, ‘This is not possible, this is my imagination.’ And I watched bright, blue-eyed kids become stupid and frightened and frustrated and angry and resentful and distrustful. It was absolutely the strangest thing I’d ever experienced.”

    http://www.neatorama.com/2009/03/27/jane-elliotts-blue-eyesbrown-eyes-experiment-on-racism/

  42. Starryflights

    Immigration Experts Urge Congress to Be Cautious on Schumer Work ID
    Plan

    By Spencer S. Hsu
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Tuesday, July 21, 2009; 8:05 PM

    Immigration analysts urged Congress on Tuesday to carefully weigh a
    leading Democratic senator’s plan to require all U.S. workers to
    verify their identity using fingerprints or digital photos, saying
    such an effort faces technological and political obstacles.

    The warnings came as Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of
    the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on immigration, used a
    panel hearing to reveal new details of his proposal, which he said
    must be part of any broader immigration overhaul.

    Schumer said a new national work identification system “must have the
    strictest privacy and civil liberties protections, and must only be
    used for employment,” not other federal ID purposes. He was silent on
    whether the government would maintain a database of fingerprint or
    other biometric information on all workers, or if data could be
    locked into a portable card or other microchip-bearing device held by
    an individual.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
    dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072102412.html?hpid=topnews

    You may get your wish.

  43. @Starryflights
    But why just for workers? Isn’t this a way to starve the immigrants out instead of giving them a legal way to work?

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