Keep the Door Open--Safely

Each year, 31 million foreigners come to visit or live in the United States. Last month 19 men, most of whom appear to have had visas, took advantage of America’s open arms and attacked their host nation with hijacked airliners. Now a swirl of new proposals would use immigration law to fight terrorism. The tough task before Congress is to keep the United States as open as possible to the huge number of people who come here as friends, while slamming the door hard against enemies.

Some of the suggested changes deserve immediate deportation to the Siberia of bad ideas. Among these are three proposals by Rep. Thomas G. Tancredo (R-Colo.): to restore an ideological litmus test for immigrants, to repeal “motor voter” laws that allow voter registration as the applicant gets a driver’s license and to implement a six-month moratorium on new visas. Three other proposals, however, should be enacted immediately.

* Although the Immigration and Naturalization Service won’t comment on the matter, it appears that two of the men responsible for the atrocities of Sept. 11 were on intelligence agencies’ “lookout list” of undesirables, while many of the others entered using legal tourist or business visas. Proposals by Tancredo and Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) call for thorough background checks on all visa applicants and increased funding for the sharing of information between agencies.

* Some of last month’s hijackers reportedly remained in the country after their visas expired. Another Bond proposal would help the INS keep track of the approximately 4 million people annually who overstay their visas; this would be done by implementing a previously ignored provision of the 1996 Immigration Act that calls for an automated system to record the departure of visa holders.

* At least one of the terrorists entered the United States with a student visa but never showed up at school. There is no reliable system for tracking the approximately 600,000 people who arrive each year holding student visas, despite another provision of the 1996 law that requires it. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has called for $32 million to allow the INS to begin using the so-called foreign student electronic tracking system.

Until last month, the United States had remained generally secure while being host to more students, tourists and foreign business people than any other nation. The attack on the World Trade Center killed people from more than 60 countries. Leaders must come up with new immigration policies to make this country safer for everyone.