Immigration System Allows Some to Sidestep Procedures

How did they get in?

That is the troubling question generated by revelations that foreign nationals successfully carried out terrorist attacks in the United States.

Answers may be a while in coming. But calls are already emerging to tighten a system that critics say has two major failings: inadequate screening of visa-seekers and no permanent tracking of foreign visitors, many of whom remain illegally after their visas expire.

It is still unclear how the suspects in last week’s attacks entered the country, though indications are that most may have come in legally, like millions of others each year: as tourists, businessmen, students, even political asylum applicants. Federal authorities are now reconstructing the men’s movements across several continents.

“It’s safe to expect a variety of temporary visas were used,” said a government official, who, like others, did not want to be quoted by name about the investigation.

The nationalities of the 19 suspected hijackers remain in question. There is also the possibility that some used aliases or forged documents, which can be of very high quality.

As authorities trace how the hijackers got here, attention will focus on the State Department’s visa system, known to be vulnerable to error. The department issues about 6 million visas a year to applicants abroad.

Before visas are issued, each applicant is supposed to be checked against a database--sometimes called a “watch list”--of people ineligible for entry. Criminal pasts and suspected terrorist links may be reasons for inadmissibility, but so are lack of funds, certain infectious diseases and other factors.

Various investigations have found the department’s oversight system to be less than foolproof. In the most notorious incident, the government issued several visitor’s visas to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric with a history of radical activities. Abdel Rahman is serving a life sentence for his role in a 1993 plot to blow up several New York landmarks, including the World Trade Center.

Officials say the lookout system has since been upgraded and consular officers can more quickly receive and share information about criminals and suspected terrorists with other agencies. Meantime, authorities have produced more fraud-resistant visas and passports and expanded pre-inspection of U.S.-bound passengers at foreign airports. Last week’s bombings may prove a test of the effectiveness of those reforms.

In the United States, it is the responsibility of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to screen arrivals against various law enforcement databases. The INS is also responsible for expelling the numerous illegal immigrants--whether they entered illegally or, as was apparently the case with at least one of the hijackers, overstayed their visas.

In recent years, the INS has hired more inspectors, more than doubled its ranks of border guards, upgraded its long-antiquated technology and generally employed more resources to police borders and ports of entry. “We’re better equipped to deal with anyone wishing to enter the country,” said Bill Strassberger, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The political asylum process was also tightened after considerable evidence of abuse. Civil libertarians have denounced the detention and quick expulsion of political asylum applicants deemed to have “frivolous” claims. But those changes were fueled in part by fears that terrorists and others with no claim to political refuge were gaming the system to remain in the country.

The most dramatic example is that of Mir Aimal Kasi, a Pakistani national now sitting on death row for the 1993 shooting rampage outside CIA headquarters in Virginia. He had received a one-year work permit after applying for political asylum.

Despite the changes, all acknowledge that some ineligible applicants may slip into a nation with thousands of miles of land and sea borders and scores of ports of entry. Discerning the hidden motives of those with no known criminal record or terrorist connections is especially problematic. And an illegal immigrant population that may number more than 8 million attests to the difficulties facing law enforcement.

“This points to a failure of our mechanism to manage the movement of people coming into our country,” said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that favors reductions in immigration. “You can interrupt conspiracies by nabbing some of the people who participate in them, and right now we’re not doing that.”