Center for Immigration Studies Pagel of 17

|i Center for Immigration Studies

Officers Need Backup

The Role of State and Local Police
In Immigration Law Enforcement
April 2003

By James R. Edwards. Jr.

Download the .pdf version

In the midst of a war against Islamist terrorists, the United States remains woefully — and
frighteningly — at risk. Even with the enactment of new laws such as the USA Patriot Act
and the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act and the reorganization of
major parts of the federal government into a cabinet-level Department of Homeland
Security, the American homeland is not secure.

Not only are the borders themselves still porous, frequently crossed by criminals, smugglers,
terrorists, and other lawbreakers, but the interior has very little federal enforcement
presence. The federal immigration service has just 2,000 investigators (the agents engaged in
enforcement) out of its 37,000 employees. The Border Patrol is deployed almost exclusively
along the border. And the Clinton administration's implicit policy of "we'll make it a little
tougher for you to sneak across the border, but once inside our country, we won't touch you"
remains in force.

Therefore, while the borders get some attention, the country's interior is its exposed, soft
underbelly. Untold hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens live, travel, and quietly
undermine U.S. national and economic security within our borders every day.

Among the rogues in the gallery of criminal illegal aliens are Ingmar Guandique, the
suspected killer of Chandra Levy; Lee Malvo, the suspected Washington, D.C., sniper; four
homeless Mexicans accused of brutally gang-raping a woman in New York last December;
Rafael Resendez Ramirez, the serial "Railroad Killer;" and Mohammed Salameh, one of the
1993 World Trade Center conspirator/bombers. Other illegal aliens provide the
infrastructure by which the worst ones go about undetected, like the Latin American illegal
aliens who assisted some of the September 11 hijackers to exploit loopholes and
fraudulently obtain driver's licenses.

Yet, hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers patrol every community, every mile
of road, 24 hours every day. They know their area and can spot people, things, and behavior
that are out of the ordinary. But when it comes to enforcing immigration laws, these lawmen
largely remain an untapped human resource.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2003/back703.html 2/25/2004
 Biometrics and the Border Management Challenge

Testimony of

Dennis Carlton
Director of Washington Operations
International Biometric Group, LLC

To the

House Select Committee on Homeland Security

Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security

"Integrity and Security at the Borders:

The US VISIT Program"

January 28, 2004

My name is Dennis Carlton and I am the Director of Washington Operations for International
Biometric Group of New York City. On behalf of our company, I'd like to thank the committee
for the opportunity to talk to you about the technology called biometrics and some of the likely
the issues associated with introducing biometrics into the border management system.

Let me begin with a brief description of International Biometric Group so that you better
understand who we are and our unique position in the world of biometrics. International
Biometric Group, or IBG, provides independent consulting services to government and private
industry customers interested in implementing biometric technologies. Our organization focuses
on three primary functions: (1) evaluating and reporting on biometric products and vendors, as
well as the markets in which they compete, (2) advising clients on how to implement biometric
systems, and (3) integrating a wide range of biometric hardware and software to meet the
security needs of our customers. We take a practical, hands-on approach toward biometrics. We
have conducted extensive comparative performance testing of more than fifty different biometric
solutions so that we know how they're likely to perform in the real world. IBG holds to a strict
vendor-neutral policy, which enables us to maintain close relationships with biometrics vendors
while ensuring that our clients receive accurate and independent advice on which biometric
systems can best meet their needs.

I'd like to take a moment to review some of the basics of biometrics. A technical definition of
biometrics is the automated measurement of behavioral or physiological characteristics of a
human being to determine or authenticate their identity. In other words, it's the use of computers
to confirm who a person is by matching a behavior or a permanent physical characteristic with
similar records in a database. Biometrics alone can't determine an individual's identity but they
can effectively distinguish one person from another. There is a wide range of products in the
market that can acquire and match a person's biometric data to perform a quick and accurate
identification. With respect to border management, the U.S. has focused its attention on
 Statement of
Kathleen Campbell Walker
on behalf of the
American Immigration Lawyers Association
and the
Foreign Trade Association, Inc.
of the Paso del Norte Region
on
Integrity and Security at the Border: The US VISIT Program
Before the
Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security of the Select Committee
on Homeland Security

January 28, 2004

Washington, D.C.

Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, I am Kathleen Campbell Walker,
Treasurer of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). I am honored to be here today
representing two organizations, AILA and the Foreign Trade Association of the Paso del Norte region.

AILA is the immigration bar association with more than 8,500 members who practice immigration law.
Founded in 1946, the association is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and is an affiliated organization
of the American Bar Association (ABA). AILA members represent tens of thousands of: U.S. families
who have applied for permanent residence for their spouses, children, and other close relatives to lawfully
enter and reside in the United States; U.S. businesses, universities, colleges, and industries that sponsor
highly skilled foreign professionals seeking to enter the United States on a temporary basis or, having
proved the unavailability of U.S. workers when required, on a permanent basis; and healthcare workers,
asylum seekers, often on a pro bono basis, as well as athletes, entertainers, exchange visitors, artists, and
foreign students. AILA members have assisted in contributing ideas for increased port of entry inspection
efficiencies and continue to work through their national liaison activities with federal agencies engaged in
the administration and enforcement of our immigration laws to identify ways to improve adjudicative
processes and procedures.

The Foreign Trade Association of the Paso del Norte region was originally incorporated in 1985 as the El
Paso Foreign Trade Association. The mission of the Foreign Trade Association is to enhance and
advance bilateral trade in the Paso del Norte region, which includes El Paso, Texas, southern New
Mexico, and the northern part of the State of Chihuahua in Mexico, which includes Ciudad Juarez. The
Association's membership includes maquiladora executives and service industry leaders from both sides
of the U.S.-Mexico border. The Association has a history of working with federal, state, and local
officials on both sides of the border to implement projects for the improvement of cross-border trade and
commerce. For example, the Association spearheaded a four-year project partially funded by the El Paso
community to construct the first dedicated commuter lane in Texas using Secure Electronic Network for
Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI) technology. It also helped to implement the first FAST lane on the
southern border for commercial traffic in the past few months.
 TESTIMONY OF ASA HUTCHINSON
UNDER SECRETARY
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
DIRECTORATE OF BORDER AND TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
BEFORE THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE & BORDER SECURITY
JANUARY 28, 2004

Chairman Camp, Ranking Member Sanchez and other distinguished Members, it is a pleasure to
appear before you today to discuss the Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT program
and how this fits in with our commitment to protect the homeland.

US-VISIT represents yet another major milestone in enhancing our nation's security and our
efforts to reform our borders. It is a major step towards bringing integrity back to our
immigration and border enforcement systems.

US-VISIT procedures are clear, simple, and fast for foreign nationals. Upon arrival at the air or
seaport, visitors will see signage that clearly explains the US-VISIT procedures. This signage, as
well as explanatory boarding cards that many airlines are distributing to their passengers, is
translated into multiple languages and features the campaign iconography to ensure people
understand what to do when they get to the primary inspection booth.

For foreign visitors traveling with visas, the additional US-VISIT steps are simple. First, the
officer directs the visitor to place his or her left index finger on the small red window of the
digital fingerscanning device. Next, the visitor places his or her right index finger on the
scanning device. Finally, the officer takes a digital photograph of the visitor. These procedures
add, on average, 15 seconds to the overall inspection process. There is no ink involved in the
digital fingerscanning process. The officer will then ask the visitor standard, routine questions
about his or her visit. The biometric data and biographic information are compared to a series of
watchlists and databases, and within seconds the officer has the information he or she needs to
admit the visitor into the country or
refer the visitor to secondary inspection for further review.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deployed US-VISIT on time, on budget, and has
met the mandates established by Congress as well as the challenge by the Secretary of Homeland
Security to include biometrics (fingerprints) ahead of schedule. Senior U.S. Customs and Border
Protection management has hailed it as the biggest improvement to border inspection in more
than three decades. By January 5, 2004, US-VISIT entry procedures were operational at 115
airports (covering 99% of all foreign visitors entering the country by air) and 14 seaports, and we
began pilot testing biometric exit procedures at one airport and one seaport. As of January 23rd,
more than 600,000 foreign visitors have been processed under the new US-VISIT entry
procedures.
Statement of James C. May
President and CEO, Air Transport Association of America, Inc.
Before the Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security
Select Committee on Homeland Security
United States House of Representatives
January 28, 2004

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, my name is James C. May and I am
President and CEO of the Air Transport Association of America (ATA). ATA is the trade
association for leading U.S. airlines. Our members transport over 95 percent of all the passenger
and cargo traffic in the United States. Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to
discuss the United States' Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program - more
commonly known as "US-VISIT".

Congress mandated the US-VISIT program in the Enhanced Border Security and Visa
Reform Act of 2002. This statute established the requirement that all foreign national visa
holders be photographed and fingerprinted upon arrival and prior to departure from the United
States. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) broad Congressional mandate to create
an integrated, automated entry/exit system, recording the arrival and departure of travelers is
both ambitious and important. Because the airline industry transports 51 million international
passengers each year, it is essential to our industry, and our passengers, that this program
improve overall border management while further enhancing our Nation's security. We support
DHS in its efforts to create and implement US-VISIT.

While the airline industry is pleased to work with DHS and our national security leaders
to participate in these programs, we believe it is critical that DHS adhere to the planned schedule
for deploying US-VISIT at the northern and southern land borders. This is especially important
since airline passengers make up only 4% of all U.S. entrants subject to US-VISIT requirements
while land borders make up 37% of such visitors. Until US-VISIT is deployed nationwide at all
border crossings, the system will not be effective in enhancing our national security

We compliment the Department of Homeland Security, and specifically, Undersecretary

Hutchinson and the Office of Border and Transportation Security, the US-VISIT Program Office,
and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), for working together to carefully and
completely plan for a successful implementation. Their attention to careful planning, in full
consultation with all interested parties has been first rate. We look forward to continuing this
cooperative approach.

First, I will offer some lessons learned and observations about the entry portion of US-
VISIT. Second, I will address on-going concerns with the exit pilot program. Finally, I will
briefly mention some overarching screening program concerns.
Center for Immigration Studies Page 1 of2

Center for Immigration Studies

How did the terrorists get in?

By Mark Krikorian and Steven Camarota

The San Francisco Chronicle

Autumn 2001, Vol. 11 No. 4

As we consider our response to last week's horrific attacks, we must be careful not to seek
scapegoats among foreigners who live among us. But if immigrants in general aren't the
problem, a broken immigration system almost certainly is partly to blame.

While much attention has been focused on the failure of intelligence and airport security, it
is also clear that we have failed to properly police our borders - borders being any place
where foreign citizens enter the United States. It would be a grave error if we did not ask
ourselves the fundamental question: How did these terrorists get in?

Despite all the cant about globalization, borders are not irrelevant in today's world, nor are
they unenforceable. In fact, the need to secure them is more pressing than ever, given ease of
travel coupled with very real terrorist threats.

Most Americans understand that our border is not an obstacle to be overcome by travelers
and businesses, but instead is a critical tool for protecting America's national interests.
Unfortunately, much of America's elite doesn't get it.

Most notorious among the cheerleaders for open borders have been libertarians such as the
Cato Institute. The Wall Street Journal has frequently called for a five-word amendment to
the Constitution: "There shall be open borders."

Even minimal efforts to strengthen border controls have often been stymied. Congress in
1996 directed the Immigration and Naturalization Service to record arrivals and departures
of foreigners at border-crossings so as to identify people overstaying visas. Business
interests prompted Congress to postpone this requirement several times and ultimately to
eliminate it.

If we take the physical safety of our people seriously, we cannot continue to allow
libertarian ideologues, immigration lawyers, cheap-labor business interests and ethnic
pressure groups to hobble our ability to manage our borders. What, then, is to be done?

— The Border Patrol, despite recent increases, remains almost laughably inadequate — at any
given time, there are only about 1,700 agents patrolling the southern border, an average of
less than one agent per mile, and the northern border is even less defended.

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Center for Immigration Studies Page 1 of5

Center for Immigration Studies

Immigration News

Immigration and Civil Rights

in the Wake of September llth
Testimony prepared for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
October 12, 2001

By Mark Krikorian
Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies

"Immigration is not a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution to everyone and anyone in
the world who wishes to come to the United States. It is a privilege granted by the people of
the United States to those whom we choose to admit. " — Barbara Jordan, August 12, 1995

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this briefing on immigration and civil rights
in the wake of the September 11 jihadist atrocities. We are faced with two questions relating
to civil liberties: First, Is immigration a civil right? And second, What is the best way to
create an environment respectful of immigrants living among us?

Immigration Is Not a Civil Right

Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to establish a
"uniform Rule of Naturalization." From this has developed the "plenary power doctrine,"
which holds that Congress has complete authority over immigration matters. The Supreme
Court has said that "over no conceivable subject" is federal power greater than it is over
immigration. As a consequence, as the Court has said elsewhere, "In the exercise of its broad
power over naturalization and immigration, Congress regularly makes rules that would be
unacceptable if applied to citizens."

This is as it should be, since control over immigration is fundamental to national

sovereignty. If "We the People of the United States" have ordained and established the
Constitution, then we by definition retain the power to determine who is, and is not, a
member of the American people. Thus, the decision to admit or exclude foreign citizens is a
matter solely in the hands of the elected representatives of the people, and any one from
abroad who is admitted to travel or live among us does so as a guest, remaining here at our
pleasure, until such time as we agree to permit him to become a member of our people. In
effect, foreign citizens, even if they are here illegally, enjoy the human rights endowed to
them by God, but they remain here at our discretion and the specifics of their due process
rights are determined by Congress.

This is relevant in assessing many of the measures to tighten immigration control

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Center for Immigration Studies Page 1 of 13

Center for Immigration Studies

Immigration and Terrorism

Testimony prepared for the U.S. Senate
Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information
October 12, 2001

By Steven Camarota
Director of Research, Center for Immigration Studies

Introduction

The nation's responses to the horrific attacks of September 11 will clearly have to be in
many different areas: including military retaliation, freezing terrorist assets, diplomatic
initiatives, improvements in intelligence gathering, and expanded security measures at
airports, utilities and other public places. But one aspect of increased preparedness must not
be overlooked — changes in immigration and border control. Though all the details have
been released, it seems clear that the 19 terrorists of September 11 were foreign citizens and
most entered the United States legally as tourists, business travelers, or students. This was
also true of the perpetrators of previous terrorist acts, including Ramzi Yousef, mastermind
of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Mir Amal Kasi, murderer of two CIA
employees the same year, and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted in 1995 of plotting a
terror campaign in New York.

While it is absolutely essential that we not scapegoat immigrants, especially Muslim

immigrants, we also must not overlook the most obvious fact: the current terrorist threat to
the United States comes almost exclusively from individuals who arrive from abroad. Thus,
our immigration policy, including temporary and permanent visas issuance, border control,
and efforts to deal with illegal immigration are all critical to reducing the chance of an attack
in the future.

Much has been written about how we are involved in a new kind of war. In this new kind of
conflict, America's borders are a major theater of operations. This is because the primary
weapons of our enemies are not aircraft carriers or even commercial airliners, but rather the
terrorists themselves — thus keeping the terrorists out or apprehending them after they get in
is going to be an indispensable element of victory. The simple fact is that if the terrorists
can't enter the country, they won't be able to commit an attack on American soil.

The president implicitly acknowledged this fact in announcing the creation of a new Office
of Homeland Security, which "will lead, oversee and coordinate a comprehensive national
strategy to safeguard our country against terrorism." In a very real sense, we already have a

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Center for Immigration Studies Page 1 of34

Center for Immigration Studies

Immigration News

Immigration and Terrorism

Panel Discussion Transcript
November 6, 2001
National Press Club
Washington, DC

Moderator:
Mark Krikorian, Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies

Panelists:
Jessica Vaughan, former foreign service officer and former assistant director of the Center
for Immigration Studies

Bill King, retired Border Patrol Agent

Mark Reed, former INS agent

Peter Nunez, former U.S. Attorney from San Diego

Ed Grant. Board of Immigration Appeals

MR. KRIKORIAN: My name is Mark Krikorian. I'm executive director of the Center for
Immigration Studies. We're a think tank here in Washington on the web at cis.org and we
examine and critique the impact of immigration on the United States. Before September
llth, examining the economic impact of immigration, the fiscal impact, social and political
impacts. Since September llth, the whole debate has shifted to focusing on the security
aspects of immigration control. These issuing overseas, the inspection of foreign citizens at
our airports, preventing unauthorized border crossings, tracking foreign students, what have
you.

And there's been a lot of legislative activity on this, at least a lot of sound and fury. And
there's been a lot of discussion of this sort of the kind of panel discussions that we're going
to have today.

The problem is that all the discussion up to now has been by politicians, by pundits, policy
analysts and I can say this as a policy analyst myself and a want to be pundit at some point,
that there's nothing wrong with people like that. But the people who actually do the work
that is being discussed have not really been consulted or haven't really had an opportunity to
air their opinions, their experiences, and their insight up to now. Certainly not publicly, and

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Center for Immigration Studies Pagel of 19

Center for Immigration Studies

Immigration News

Immigrants from the Middle East

A Profile of the Foreign-born Population
from Pakistan to Morocco
August 2002

By Steven A. Camarota

Download the .pdf version

In the aftermath of September 11, there has been heightened interest in the Middle Eastern
immigrant population living in the United States. Their integration and incorporation into
American society has come to be seen as increasingly important.

Based on an analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies of just-released data from the
Census Bureau, this Backgrounder is one of the first to examine the socio-demographic
characteristics of Middle Eastern immigrants in a systematic way. For the purposes of this
study, the Middle East is defined as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Turkey, the Levant,
the Arabian peninsula, and Arab North Africa. -

Among the report's findings:

• Middle Easterners are one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in America. While
the size of the overall immigrant population (legal and illegal) has tripled since 1970,
the number of immigrants from the Middle East has grown more than seven-fold,
from fewer than 200,000 in 1970 to nearly 1.5 million in 2000.

The INS last estimated that 150,000, or about 10 percent, of Middle Eastern
immigrants are illegal aliens. Preliminary Census Bureau estimates show a similar
number.

Assuming no change in U.S. immigration policy, 1.1 million new immigrants (legal
and illegal) from the Middle East are projected to settle in the United States by 2010,
and the total Middle Eastern immigrant population will grow to about 2.5 million.

These figures do not include the 570,000 U.S.-born children (under age 18) who have
at least one parent born in the Middle East, a number expected to grow to 950,000 by

http://www.cis.org/articles/2002/back902.html 1/28/2004
Center for Immigration Studies Page 1 of9

Center for Immigration Studies

Immigration News

How the Terrorists Get In

by Steven A. Camarota

The Public Interest

Fall 2002

In the aftermath of September 11, a host of federal agencies have come under intense
scrutiny. The Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the
Central Intelligence Agency have all been charged with responsibility for failures leading up
to the attacks. In each case, the culture within the agency, as well as its mission, policies,
and procedures, has been examined in a variety of public forums. The Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) has also been excoriated for several spectacular gaffs — most
infamously, for sending notification to a Florida flight school that two of the hijackers had
been approved as students six months after their deaths. But there has been no comparable
effort to examine the failures of our immigration system. For example, all of the September
11 hijackers were issued visas, but there have been no extensive congressional hearings or
investigations by the General Accounting Office or the Office of the Inspector General to
determine whether the State Department, which issued the visas, erred in any way.

Given the fact that the current terrorist threat to the United States comes primarily from
foreign-born individuals, immigration services would seem to be an obvious area of inquiry.
Of course, no immigration system can be completely foolproof, but it does not have to be.
Even if only some of those individuals can be detained by our immigration system, it is
possible that whatever conspiracy they are part of could be uncovered.

While they were the most destructive in American history, the attacks of last September
were not the first carried out by foreign terrorists on U.S. soil. To gain a more complete
picture of the threat and of the holes in our immigration system, we must examine acts of
terrorism in this country over the last decade. Including the September 11 hijackers, 48
foreign-born militant Islamic terrorists have been charged, or convicted, or have admitted
their involvement in terrorism within the United States between 1993 and 2001. In addition
to September 11, the plots examined here include the murder of employees outside of CIA
headquarters in 1993, the first attack on the World Trade Center in the same year, a plot to
bomb the Brooklyn subway system in 1997, plots to bomb New York City landmarks in
1993, and the Millennium plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. Almost all of
them have now been linked in some way to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization. To be
sure, other terrorist threats exist. However, because the threat it poses dwarfs that of any
other terrorist group, foreign or domestic, the emphasis here will be on al Qaeda.

Entering Every Which Way

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USAO/CDCA Press Release Page 1 of 2

DEBRA W. YANG
United States Attorney
Central District of California

Thorn Mrozek, Public Affairs Officer

(213) 894-6947
thom.mrozek@usdoj.gov

December 18, 2002

EX-I.N.S. OFFICIAL PLEADS GUILTY TO ROLE IN SMUGGLING RING
THAT EXPLOITED TRANSIT WITHOUT VISA PROGRAM

A former supervisor with the Immigration and Naturalization Service pleaded guilty this afternoon to
charges of smuggling aliens from the Philippines into the United States through Los Angeles
International Airport.
Maximiano R. Ramos, 53, of North Hills, a former supervisory immigration inspector with the INS,
pleaded guilty to six federal charges, including conspiracy, bringing illegal aliens into the United States
and transporting illegal aliens. Ramos resigned from the INS in July, about one month after his arrest.
Ramos pleaded guilty to charges contained in an indictment that outlines a scheme in which he and
others conspired to meet the aliens at their arriving flight, divert them from their connecting flight and
escort them past airport security. The aliens smuggled into the United States were entitled to be in the
country only briefly and solely because they were passengers on international flights who were making
connections at LAX as part of the Transit Without Visa (TWOV) program.
Ramos and five others are named in a second superseding indictment that was returned by a federal
grand jury in Los Angeles on December 12. The additional defendants are:
Rita A. Cunanan, 42, of North Hills, an employee of Hilltop Aviation, a company that provides ground
support to airlines at LAX;
Vinzon S. Perez, 57, of Los Angeles, an employee of Aviation Safeguards, a company that escorted
TWOV passengers for airlines;
Eshraga E. Nugud, 41, of Torrance, another employee of Aviation Safeguards;
Gloria E. Acosta, 47, of Los Angeles, who escorted TWOV passengers for Aviation Safeguards; and
Agusto David Garcia, 52, of Panorama City, another Aviation Safeguards employee.
Perez, Nugud, Acosta and Garcia are scheduled to be arraigned on the superseding indictment on
Monday. Cunanan is a fugitive being sought by federal authorities.
Another defendant in this case, Agnes Cunanan, 47, of Canoga Park, who is Rita Cunanan's sister,
pleaded guilty on October 15 to one count of conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States.
The scheme involving Ramos and the other defendants exploited the TWOV program. Under the
program, aliens from certain countries, such as the Philippines, are not required to obtain a visa if they
are only stopping briefly in the United States. Typically, such TWOV aliens are passengers who have
arrived in the United States on international flights and are connecting to another international flight.
Airlines are responsible for completing paperwork for TWOV passengers and providing it to the INS.
Airlines contract with private airport security companies, such as Aviation Safeguards, which provide
TWOV escorts who meet the passengers when they deplane and ensure that they board their connecting
flight.
According to court documents, Ramos and Cunanan accepted payments for aliens to be brought into the
U.S. The aliens would fly from the Philippines to LAX, arriving while Ramos was on duty. Nugud and
Acosta allegedly met the aliens at their connecting flight, and then escorted them past security and out of
the terminal. Perez would pick up the aliens and drive them to an apartment in Panorama City, where the

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Center for Immigration Studies Page 1 of3

Center for Immigration Studies

Asymmetrical Warfare and Immigration

By Mark Krikorian

In The National Interest

October 16, 2002

The phrase "Home Front" was a metaphor that gained currency during World War I,
with the intention of motivating a civilian population involved in total war. The
image served to increase economic output and the purchase of war bonds, promote
conservation and recycling of resources, and reconcile the citizenry to privation and
rationing.

But in America's wars of today and in the future, "Home Front" is no longer a
metaphor. Our enemies have no hope of defeating our armies in the field, and
therefore explore asymmetrical methods to attack us. And though there are many
facets to asymmetrical warfare — as we saw in the pre-9/n assaults on our interests
in the Middle East and East Africa — the Holy Grail of such a strategy is attacking
the American homeland. As long as this is true, blocking the enemy's ability to carry
out such attacks is essential to successfully prosecuting our wars.

To this end, as of October i all men ages 16 to 45 from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and
Yemen visiting the United States are fingerprinted, photographed, and questioned
upon their arrival. They also have to report to the INS periodically during their stay,
and their departure must be recorded.

Visitors from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Libya are already required to undergo
such registration, and potential visitors from Egypt and Jordan have been advised
that they might have registered as well.

These measures aim to fix the enormous problems in our immigration system that
became impossible to ignore after the September 11 attacks. A Center for
Immigration Studies analysis of the immigration histories of 48 foreign-born Al-
Qaeda operatives who committed crimes in the United States over the last decade
(The report can be accessed at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2OO2/terrorpr.html)
found that nearly every element of the immigration system has been penetrated by
the enemy. Of the 48 (including the hijackers), one-third were here on various
temporary visas, another third were legal residents or naturalized citizens, one-
fourth were illegal aliens, and the remainder had pending asylum applications.
Nearly half of the total had, at some point or another, violated immigration laws.

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Center for Immigration Studies Page 1 of 19

Center for Immigration Studies

Immigration News

Visas for Terrorists: What Went Wrong?

Panel Discussion Transcript
October 31,2002
The National Press Club
Washington, B.C.

Panelists:
Steven A. Camarota, Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies; author of
The Open Door: How Militant Islamic Terrorists Entered and Remained in the United States.
1993-20Q1.

Michelle Malkin, nationally syndicated columnist and author of Invasion: How America Still
Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores

Joel Mowbray, investigative reporter, National Review

Nikolai Wenzel, former U.S. Foreign Service Officer, now with the Atlas Foundation

STEVEN CAMAROTA: If everyone would be seated, I think we'll get started now.
Everyone. Okay. I am Steven Camarota and I'm director of research at the Center for
Immigration Studies here in Washington DC. We are one of the cosponsors of this event.
We would also like to thank our other co-sponsor of this event, and that's National Review
Magazine. They are Joel Mowbray to my left, they are his employer, and they are the ones
who provided the applications of the hijackers, of the September 11 hijackers, their visa
applications that we are giving out today. I should point out that we didn't ask them how
they got them. We actually don't want to know.

Now, in your packet is the actual visa applications of the hijackers. Also in your packet is a
newly released GAO report. Or some of you have the executive summary, but for the press
we actually gave them the whole report on how the hijackers got their visas and the problems
that still exist in our visa issuing system. Also in your packet is an executive summary of a
report done by the Center for Immigration Studies. The entire report is available at our
website: www.cis.org. The report is entitled The Open Door: How Militant Islamic
Terrorists Entered and Remained in the United States '93 through 2001.

Now, this is one of the most important panels I feel that the Center for Immigration Studies

http://www.cis.org/articles/2002/terrorvisapanel.html 1/28/2004
Center for Immigration Studies Page 1 of 14

Center for Immigration Studies

Immigration News

Falling Behind on Security

Implementation of the Enhanced Border Security and
Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002
December 2003

By Rosemary Jenks and Steven A. Camarota

Read the panel discussion transcript

Download the .pdf version

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, exposed numerous weaknesses in the
nation's immigration system, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Enhanced Border
Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, which the president signed in May 2002.J The
visa tracking law, as it is often called, and the USA Patriot Act, were the two primary
legislative responses to the attacks. While the USA Patriot Act has been the subject of
intense debate, implementation of the visa tracking law has received relatively little
attention. This Backgrounder is the first report to systematically examine the
implementation of the law so far, and specifically the Bush Administration's compliance
with the deadlines it laid out. We find that, although a number of important reforms were
implemented by the mandated deadlines, many others were implemented well after their
deadlines passed, and still others have not been implemented at all.

Among the findings:

• Of the 22 mandated deadlines that already have passed, more than half (13) were
missed.

• Of those 13 deadlines that were missed, four of the required reforms eventually were
implemented, while nine others still have not been implemented as of this writing.

• One of the most important missed deadlines is the Administration's failure to report
any progress on the development of an integrated biometric-based database, dubbed
Chimera, that would give the State Department and the Department of Homeland
Security real-time access to law enforcement, immigration, and intelligence
information on every alien who seeks admission to the United States. The
Administration has failed even to establish the required nine-member commission to
oversee the development of Chimera, thus indefinitely stalling any progress on the
system.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2003/backl903.html 1/28/2004
The Open Door
How Militant Islamic Terrorists
Entered and Remained
in the United States, 1993-2001
By Steven A. Camarota

Center Paper 21