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US Fails to Make Sure Foreign Visitors Leave

Dallas bomb plot highlights thousands who overstay visas

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 12, 2009 8:38 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Hosam Maher Husein Smadi came to the US legally on a tourism visa. But the 19-year-old Jordanian stayed after it had expired and then, allegedly, tried to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. That case has sparked calls from both parties for a better system for tracking foreign visitors, the New York Times reports, not just when they enter the country, but when and if they leave. Congressmen want a universal electronic exit monitoring system, which would identify visitors who’d overstayed their welcome.

Republican Lamar Smith says the Smadi case “points to a real need for an entry and exit system if we are serious about reducing illegal immigration,” and Chuck Schumer says he’ll steer stimulus money toward it. But Homeland Security says the system would be a costly logistical nightmare, potentially clogging trade and hurting border cities. “You can’t ask the immigration system to do everything,” says one migration researcher.

Ahmad Al-Shrmany is interviewed at the Immigration & Customs Enforcement processing center in Houston. Al-Shrmany, who fled Saddam's Iraq, spent 16 months in jail for overstaying his vistor's visa.
Ahmad Al-Shrmany is interviewed at the Immigration & Customs Enforcement processing center in Houston. Al-Shrmany, who fled Saddam's Iraq, spent 16 months in jail for overstaying his vistor's visa.   (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office has a sign in its window advertising Operation Scheduled Departure Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008, in Santa Ana, Calif.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office has a sign in its window advertising Operation Scheduled Departure Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008, in Santa Ana, Calif.   (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, the 19-year-old Jordanian national accused of plotting to bomb a downtown Dallas skyscraper, was in the US on an expired visa.
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, the 19-year-old Jordanian national accused of plotting to bomb a downtown Dallas skyscraper, was in the US on an expired visa.   (AP Photo/Dallas County Sheriff)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
RockyPneumonia
Oct 13, 2009 8:43 AM CDT
The sane readers understood me.
Sayyiduna
Oct 12, 2009 8:24 AM CDT
I know at least a handful of people in the United States that came here on a visa and then stayed when it expired. These are people with no fingerprint or any other sort of record. It amazes me that this has been the case for close to a decade and yet the heads of national security are just now wising up to the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are walking around the U.S. who can commit any crime they please and we can't identify them.. There's "national security" for ya.
Reader65069154
Oct 12, 2009 7:39 AM CDT
You don't make any sense.
US

 
immigration • Department of Homeland Security • illegal immigration • visas • Hosam Maher Husein Smadi

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