Bush Seeks to Tighten Immigration

President Bush on Monday ordered a major review of the nation’s immigration laws, a move that seeks to enhance the government’s ability to keep out or deport foreigners with suspected terrorist links.

The White House said the immigration review will be conducted by a new task force, led by Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Director Thomas J. Ridge, that is expected to propose legislation and order action by federal agencies. It also is to conduct a thorough review of student visa policies.

“We’re going to start asking a lot of questions that heretofore have not been asked,” Bush said as he presided over the first meeting of the Homeland Security Council. “I’m going to tighten up the visa policy.”

At the same time, the White House conceded that the administration’s unrelenting focus on counter-terrorism would indefinitely delay a separate drive to relax immigration regulations for Mexican workers.

Before the Sept. 11 attacks, immigration--and possibly legal status for millions of illegal immigrants--was at the top of Washington and Mexico City’s bilateral agenda. But as White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Monday: “No, it’s not dead. But . . . it has not moved at the pace the president had hoped it would move, and I think that’s understandable.”

Immigrant advocates said they hope the new review will not derail the possibility of a future U.S.-Mexico accord on immigration.

“It’s understandable that there’s been a shift in attention since Sept. 11. All of our priorities have shifted,” said Thomas Saenz, vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “But it’s too soon to say whether there will be a shift in direction once attention comes back to the immigration issue. We hope not.”

Mexican officials, while disappointed that an immigration pact has been put on hold, have publicly backed the White House’s anti-terrorism effort and voiced hope that bilateral progress on the issue will resume.

The immigration review will be conducted by the newly created Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, Bush said. In unveiling his latest anti-terrorism measure, he tried to differentiate between well-intentioned visitors and those who would enter the U.S. to do harm.

“We welcome legal immigrants, and we welcome people coming to America. We welcome the process that encourages people to come to our country to visit, to study or to work,” Bush said.

“What we don’t welcome are people who come to hurt the American people, and so therefore we’re going to be very diligent with our visas and observant with the behavior of people who come to this country.”

In investigating the attacks, the government has detained nearly 1,000 people, many of whom are suspected of immigration violations.

Despite the president’s reassurances, some civil liberties organizations expressed concern that the task force may recommend stiff measures that would adversely affect all foreign visitors and result in reduced immigration levels.

“Obviously, we think there ought to be security concerns taken into account when people enter the country,” Saenz said. “The concern is when these go overboard or are used in a discriminatory fashion. But if they’re a fair and well-implemented means to ensure security, no one could object to that.”

Immigrant advocates emphasized that the president has gone out of his way to say he supports immigration. The Sept. 11 attacks have prompted some in Congress to push for restrictions in overall immigration levels, but such proposals have not picked up legislative steam.

“This is about entry and exit policy,” said Cecilia Munoz, vice president for policy for the National Council of La Raza. “The vast majority of people who enter and exit the United States are not immigrants at all. They’re tourists and visitors and students and others.”

Civil libertarians have generally supported proposals to improve screening of foreign visitors and steps to help ensure that terrorists and criminals are denied entry.

“It sounds to me like the purpose of the task force is to look at entry and exit policy to see in what constructive ways it can be changed,” Munoz said. “In principle, that’s not a bad idea. But the proof of the pudding comes in what kinds of proposals come out of it.”

The White House said the task force would coordinate programs designed to deny entry to foreigners “associated with, suspected of being engaged in or supporting terrorist activity.”

The task force will include personnel from the State Department, FBI, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Secret Service, Customs Service and the intelligence community.

At least nine of the 19 hijacking suspects were in the United States on valid visas; two others entered as legal visitors and stayed beyond their visas’ expiration dates. At least two were admitted as students but violated the terms of their student visas. INS officials said they could not find entry records for six of the suspects.

“We plan on making sure that if a person has applied for a student visa, they actually go to college or university,” Bush told reporters during a brief photo session in the Cabinet Room near the end of the domestic security council meeting.

Toward that end, the departments of State, Justice, Education, Defense and Energy and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are to institute tighter controls to ensure that student visas are being issued appropriately, the White House said.

The White House said one of the goals of the review of student visa policies is to prohibit the education and training of foreigners “who would use their training to harm the United States and its allies.”

This is a clear reference to the fact that several of the hijacking suspects, including Mohamed Atta and several other suspected ringleaders, received pilot training in the United States, apparently in preparation for commandeering the civilian flights.

The task force also is to work more closely with immigration and customs officials in Canada and Mexico on developing a common database to deny potential terrorists easy entry into the United States. Authorities have long worried about terrorists and other lawbreakers entering the U.S. through the nation’s thousands of miles of porous border. “Our task is to do everything we can to protect the American people from any threat whatsoever,” Bush said.

The prospect of increasing hemispheric cooperation has buoyed the hopes of those pushing for a U.S.-Mexico immigration accord that would include a large-scale legalization for illegal immigrants.

“It is more clear why we need to be collaborating with Canada and Mexico on effective and reasonable immigration policies,” said Munoz of the National Council of La Raza. “Ultimately I think the U.S.-Mexico talks are critical toward that objective.”

While answering reporters’ questions Monday afternoon, Bush expressed satisfaction with the military campaign in Afghanistan.

“The strategy we have at the time right now is to use our military to dismantle Taliban defenses, use our military to destroy Al Qaeda training bases, and to work with troops that now exist on the ground to fulfill our mission. And I am pleased with the progress we’re making,” he said.

He also delivered words intended to soothe public anxieties, urging Americans yet again to “go about their lives.”