U.S. Lacks System to Track Expired Visas.

 

Eight years after the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks and despite repeated mandates from Congress, the United States still has no reliable system for verifying that foreign visitors have left the country.

New concern has been focused on that security loophole recently, as Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian who had overstayed his tourist visa, was accused in court of plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper.

Last year alone, 2.9 million foreign visitors on temporary visas like Smadi’s entered the country but never officially left. Immigration officials say, they suspect that several hundred thousand of them overstayed their visas. Over all about 40 percent of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States came on legal visas and overstayed.

Mr.Smadi’s case had brought renewed calls from both parties in Congress for Department of Homeland Security officials to complete a universal electronic exit monitoring system.

Since the Sept.11 attacks, the immigration authorities, with more than $1 billion from Congress, have greatly improved and expanded their systems to monitor arriving foreigners. But despite congressional authorizations, there are no biometric inspections or a systematic follow-up to confirm that foreign visitors have left the US.

Homeland security officials caution that universal exit monitoring is a daunting and costly goal, mainly because of the nation’s long and busy land borders, with more than one million crossings every day. The wrong exit plan, they said, could clog trade, disrupt border cities and overwhelm immigration agencies with information they could not effectively use.

Since 2004, homeland security officials have put systems in place to check all foreigners as they arrive, whether by air, sea or land. Customs officers now take fingerprints and photographs of most visitors, instantly comparing them to law enforcement watch list data-bases.

The current system relies on departing foreigners to turn in a paper stub when they leave. But many travelers fail to check out because they do not know how to do so. Many still are believed to have overstayed intentionally.

The immigration authorities have a separate system for keeping track of foreigners who, unlike Mr Smadi, come on student visas. That system has proved effective at confirming that the students have stayed in school and do not overstay their visas.

Immigration analysts said that it remained up to law enforcement officials to thwart terrorism suspects who do not have records that would draw scrutiny before they enter the United States.

 

Words to be memorized:

Despite – несмотря на, вопреки чему-либо

Mandates – поручение, наказ

Reliable – to rely on – надежный, достоверный; - надеяться

To verify – подтверждать, удостоверять

Loophole – лазейка, увертка

To overstay – загоститься, просрочить (визу)

To plot – организовывать, замышлять

To blow up – взорвать

To estimate – оценивать, подсчитать

To expand – расширять, распространять

Authorization – одобрение, санкция, разрешение

Follow-up – дополнительные данные, завершение, доработка

Daunting – пугающий, обескураживающий

Costly – дорогостоящий

Crossing – пересечение

Instantly – мгновенно, в ту же минуту

Stub – корешок билета

Watch list – список ценных бумаг или людей, за которыми ведется наблюдение

Current – действующий, текущий

To depart – отбывать, уезжать

To keep track – следить за…

Intention – intentional – intentionally – намерение; - преднамеренный, умышленный; - преднамеренно

To thwart – препятствовать, преграждать

Scrutiny - исследование, наблюдение

Clog - препятствовать, мешать

Disrupt - разрушать, подрывать

Tasks:

 

I. Questions:

1) What event focused the attention of the American government on the shortage of a system

verifying that foreign visitors have left the country?

2) How many visitors overstay regularly their visas in the USA?

3) How much money did the USA have to spend to monitor arriving foreigners?

4) Why is it difficult to create a system of exit monitoring?

5) What do the customs officers do to check all those who arrive in the country?

6) What is the current system of exit monitoring based on?

7) Why do many visitors fail to check out?

8) Do the immigration authorities use the same system?

9) What is the opinion of the immigration analysts on the problem of thwarting terrorism suspects?

 

II. Translate from Russian into English:

1) Несмотря на множественные атаки террористов, в США нет надежной системы, преграждающей путь терроризму.

2) Проследить за потоком въезжающих и выезжающих из страны – крайне трудно.

3) Необходима система биометрических данных, чтобы найти преступника.

4) Многие люди остаются после окончания срока визы в США намеренно.

5) Число незаконных иммигрантов пугающе высоко.

6) Чтобы отследить поток беженцев необходимо улучшить систему контроля.

7) Люди, выезжающие из США сдают корешки билетов, которые они получают при въезде.

8) Теперь таможенные служащие снимают отпечатки пальцев и фотографируют

всех, кто въехал в страну.

9) Человек, подозреваемый во взрыве супермаркета, был пойман в момент пересечения границы.

10) Тщательное наблюдение может препятствовать свободной торговле.

 

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