Worldnetdaily.com
WASHINGTON – The INS is readmitting visitors to the U.S. from high-risk nations who fail to comply with new anti-terrorist tracking rules, WorldNetDaily has learned.
Nationals from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Pakistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia have been let back in to the U.S., even though they left without checking in with federal immigration inspectors as required by a registration program started Oct. 1.
At San Francisco International Airport, for example, "several dozen" foreign scofflaws have been readmitted, an INS inspector there said.
"We have only denied one, and the supervisor took some heat for that," he said.
Exit registration is important, federal authorities say, because it helps inspectors catch high-risk visitors who overstay their visas, blocking them from future entry. Four of the Sept. 11 hijackers – Mohamed Atta of Egypt, Marwan al-Shehhi of U.A.E., Hani Hanjour of Saudi Arabia and Nawaf al-Hazmi of Saudi Arabia – overstayed their visas. Ringleader Atta and al-Shehhi were allowed back in to the U.S. despite previous overstays.
Posted by Suzanne at January 17, 2003