Washington – Customs officials are being ordered “effective immediately” to verify that every foreign student arriving in the U.S. has a valid student visa.
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It’s the first security change by the U.S. government directly related to the Boston bombings.
According to an internal memorandum obtained by The Associated Press, the Homeland Security Department says every international student holding a non-immigrant student visa must have their status verified before being allowed into the U.S. The order came one day after the Obama administration acknowledged that a student from Kazakhstan accused of hiding evidence for one of the Boston bombing suspects was allowed to return to the U.S. in January without a valid student visa.
Azamat Tazhayakov’s (AHZ’-maht tuh-ZAYE’-uh-kov) terminated visa status was in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, called SEVIS.
Naturally no one would have thought that the validity of visas would be verified on entry. It’s not like they verify credit cards when you try to use them.
What about the students who are already here? Are we making sure that the students are actually Students?
The 9/11 Commission made similar recommendations, regarding visas, in 2004. At one time, every alien had to register at their local post office, every January, and certify their address. For whatever reason, that procedure was discontinued. However, it should be reinstated.There are hundreds of thousands of people residing in the USA right now (of all nationalities and ethnic groups), whose visas have expired. Yet, they merely disappear into the woodwork, and are not apprehended. There must be better internal security in the USA.