Thread: Obama Administration Ignored Millions of Visa Overstays

Obama Administration Ignored Millions of Visa Overstays

By Shari Rendall
A recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed that more than 1.6 million foreign nationals overstayed the authorized duration of their visas during Obama’s second term and became part of the illegal alien population in the United States. (See GAO Report at p. 30, February 2017)

The GAO report, which was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, concluded that these foreigners who were granted temporary admission into the country on a B- visa (business or pleasure) were able to disappear into the interior of the country because the Obama administration refused to take action against anyone who did not meet the administration’s “enforcement priorities” based on nation security or public safety. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) justified the Obama administration’s decision to ignore these 1.6 million illegal aliens, saying they “do not have the criminal convictions required to classify as a DHS enforcement priority.”

The report also found that foreign nationals are routinely failing to depart the country at the end of their authorized stay. According to the report, between fiscal years 2013 and 2015 approximately 2.7 million foreigners on a B- visa failed to depart when required to do so. Of those, 871,463 overstays eventually departed or got some other legal status; 26, 982 were flagged as security risks; and 155,182 are being continuously monitored.

Importantly, the GAO report only sheds light on part of the visa overstay problem. First, the report only considers the number of overstays of the B- visa and does not calculate the overstay numbers of other visa categories, including the F-1 student visa; H- and L- visas; or the J-1 exchange visa. (See FAIR Legislative Update, Jan. 26, 2016)

Additionally, the report only counts the B- visa overstays of nonimmigrants that entered the United States through air or sea ports-of-entry without accounting for those who enter via land ports-of-entry because that biographic information is not being captured.

This report highlights the illegal immigration problems that persist with the government’s failure to fully implement biometric entry-exit screening at all ports-of-entry. Despite Congress requiring the federal government to implement an entry-exit system since 1996 and, requiring it to be biometrically based since 2004, it remains only partially done. (See FAIR Legislative Update, Apr. 19, 2016)

While the entry segment has been in place for nearly a decade, the exit part has been neglected and there is no biometric system currently in place for any port of exit out of the U.S. by land, air or sea. This failure of the federal government to implement a biometric entry-exit system at all ports-of-entry has resulted in the huge visa overstay issue that also poses significant national security implications. It is estimated that 40 percent of the illegal alien population are visa overstays.

The Obama administration failed to complete the biometric entry-exit system despite receiving sufficient funding from Congress to do so. Last year, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 which created a dedicated source of revenue of $1 billion to implement the biometric entry-exit system. (See GAO Report, February 2017)

Additionally, then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) authored an amendment that was not included in the funding bill that would have allowed DHS and each airport to create a solution that works specific to the needs of each individual airport so long as the entry-exit system is installed and implemented within two years. (See FAIR Legislative Update, Apr. 19, 2016)

Yet, as of November 2016, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had not finalized any partnership agreements with the airports and airlines providing international service and the agency cannot complete its planning process until those agreements are finalized.

Currently, FAIR is awaiting the 2016 overstay report by DHS which was supposed to be published at the end of February.
http://www.fairus.org/legislative-up...te-3-07-2017#3

Like Obama, George W. Bush Let Illegal Immigrants Stay and Work ...

www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/obama-bush-immigration-enforcement
Jul 6, 2012
Diallo—and her family—overstayed their visas...