Posted on 10/12/2001 4:30:15 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Foreign student tracking in works
The INS said its new system could be operational in about a year, sooner than was originally planned. There are about 600,000 foreigners now studying in the United States.
BY SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- A system for tracking foreign students in America could be up and running in about a year with relatively little money from Congress, immigration commissioner James Ziglar told House members Thursday.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service was ordered in 1996 to develop a database program by Dec. 20, 2003, to keep track of the approximately 600,000 foreign students in the United States.
Ziglar told the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee that INS is on track to meet the deadline, but could beat it by a year with more money. Afterward, INS officials pegged the amount at $36.8 million.
$95 FEEOnce it's operational, the system will be paid for with a $95 fee charged to each foreign student, Ziglar said.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Christopher Bond, R-Mo., are pushing for background checks for foreign visa applicants and a sophisticated tracking system once they arrive. Feinstein said a computerized monitoring system would cost $32.3 million.
Currently, foreign students provide a form to INS at ports of entry and that information is entered into a database, sometimes months later. The form includes the student's name, country of citizenship, an address, whether the student is full or part-time, course work, degree program, termination date and reasons for termination, and the number of school credits accumulated.
The INS wants an Internet-based system so the information is easily accessible and current. Schools also will be asked to report the student's current address, visa classification and issue date, current academic or program status and any disciplinary action taken against the student.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks exposed problems with the system for identifying and tracking foreign students and workers. But even before then, the INS had many critics on Capitol Hill because of its reputation for shoddy record-keeping and poor customer service.
``Way before the events of Sept. 11 and especially since, the status of aliens in our country has been a weighty problem,'' said Rep. George Gekas, R-Pa., who chairs the committee.
Randolph Hite, a director of the General Accounting Office, testified that his auditors have found the INS has been unable to keep track of its technology and control its costs. In some cases, INS couldn't even explain why it had certain technology, said Hite, whose agency is an investigative arm of Congress.
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, cautioned against hastily approving more money for the INS, whose budget has grown from $1.4 billion in 1992 to more than $5 billion in fiscal year 2001.
PAST PROBLEMS
Ziglar, who took over the INS two months ago, has acknowledged past problems but says improvements are being made.
Ziglar said Thursday the INS would like to deploy 1,100 high-tech machines that can provide information on foreigners through fingerprints. The INS already has more than 800 machines in Border Patrol stations and inspection stations beyond the border.
For Education And Discussion Only. Not For Commercial Use.
BTW, I think when this DB initially was planned a few years ago, it was squelched due to the "privacy concerns" of foreign student groups.
Why don't we charge each individual $95 non refundable fee. Plus 1,000 dollar bond for college visas, that will be returned when your visa expires and you leave!
Hey Government, this isn't rocket science!
Six thousands Americans were murdered because the spineless cowards we have in Congress are more worried about remaining Politically Correct than they are in our national security and to fidelity to their oaths of office.
Q: How many government programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 1600..... one to write up the grant, one to keep the coffee and donuts flowing, 1,598 to stand around and look busy enough for 7 years to justify the huge costs of the project!
It will be better to send Muslims to an Islamic country, their religion doesn't like them living with infidels, they want all women in robes and veils, they don't believe Western civilization is superior to the Middle Eastern cultures, they believe we are corrupt and zionist, so they should all be happier in a country that lives up to the ideals of the Koran. It's really doing Muslims a favor to send them to countries like Afghanistan or Saudi.
Dear Lord if this isn't an example of ineptitude I don't know what is. Give me the old fashioned Dbase or the more modern Access and I'd have this thing running, quickly efficiently, toute d'suite.
Hey....gubmint....we have COMPUTERS now! With form letters, automatic lookups, links, databases, WHY CAN'T THEY DO THIS?
I *am* a business consultant and have done this very sort of thing, including creating a database to track all AIDS cases for a hospital in Baltimore. It is *not* that damn difficult.
Sure it's a grander scale and you've got all those gubmint agencies with which to interact but give me some good people, put me in charge, in two months I have it done, boom.
I'd have that puppy linking up to whatever bureaucracy issues visas. I'd have a daily report of expired visas with modem links to the universities which are alleged to be attending, boom, click on the link, CALL THEM UP! And if the answer ain't satisfactory, boom, form letter pops out. I'd track the responses and within a programmed period of time, boom, pull the Visas. Send a form letter to the FBI, go out and round them up.
No, I am *not* oversimplifying. Compared to the money and power of the United States government, my abridged plan above is analogous.
I'm serious when I say over and over again, the gubmint CANNOT handle this.
Since most "imports" are non-christian, the "mark of the beast" argument is moot.
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