Author:
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: May 23, 2002
At least half of the 48 Muslim radicals
linked to terrorist plots in the USA since 1993 manipulated or violated
immigration laws to enter this country and then stay here, an analysis
by the US Center for Immigration Studies says.
The terrorists used tourist, student
and business visas, requests for amnesty and asylum, sham marriages and
lies to trick Immigration and Naturalisation Service officials into allowing
them to stay in the USA, according to the report. Even when the terrorists
did little to hide violations of visa requirements or other laws, INS officials
failed to enforce the laws or to deport the offenders.
"Every aspect of the US immigration
system has been penetrated by terrorists, so our response must be equally
broad," says Steven Camarota, director of research for the center.
The study found that at the time
they committed their crimes, 12 of the 48 were illegal immigrants. At least
five others had lived in the USA illegally, and four others had committed
significant immigration violations. Others were here legally but should
have been rejected for visas because they fit US immigration laws' profile
of people who are likely to overstay their visas, the report says.
It says INS officials should not
have issued tourist visas to many of the September 11 hijackers because,
as young, unmarried, generally low-income men without significant ties
to their home nations, they fit the profile of "intending immigrants."
That means they were considered likely to seek permanent immigration.
USA Today
