Put Homeland Security in Charge of Issuing Visas

On December 30, 2009, I was a guest on a Monterey, California radio talk show discussing the events leading to the Christmas Day capture of a Nigerian national who attempted to detonate a bomb aboard a Detroit bound U.S. airliner. During The Mark and Jim Show, I suggested that the responsibility of issuing visas to travel to the United States be given to the Department of Homeland Security and taken away from the Department of State. I reasoned that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent with real world experience would do a better job of screening foreign nationals who never intend to return home or have ill will towards the U.S. The following Sunday morning, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) was on “This Week,” and suggested the same thing. I wonder if he heard me on the radio, or if great minds just think alike. Either way, it’s time the State Department get out of the visa business since it is incapable of just saying “no!” A U.S. visa is not a guarantee of entry into the United States. Immigration authorities still have the ability to deny entry and send the traveler back to his home country. Someone with an ICE-scrutinized visa would stand a much better chance of entering the country. Giving ICE total responsibility for visas and immigration eliminates an entire layer of government bureaucracy and increases accountability. Half of all illegal immigrants in the U.S. are “visa overstays.” Most of these people are not Mexican nationals. They come from all over the world to take advantage of the economic opportunities this country has to offer without bothering to apply for a work visa or permanent residence status. All these people receive pay under the counter or use stolen Social Security numbers to avoid detection. Some marry U.S. citizens and seek legal status by playing on the sympathy of others. An ICE agent with immigration enforcement experience would do a superior job of screening these people compared to a newly hired, recent college grad, foreign service officer who thinks the entire world is entitled to a U.S. visa. ICE agents would have instant access to their own databases and those of other law enforcement agencies to check the names of visa applicants. The next time a father visits a U.S. embassy to report that his radicalized Muslim son has a valid U.S. visa and recently visited Yemen, an ICE agent could immediately enter the person’s name on the no-fly and terrorism watch lists. He wouldn’t have to write endless cables to Washington to seek permission. He could cancel the visa on the spot and share the information with the airlines, CIA, Interpol and the FBI. These are things the State Department hesitates to do. It has a culture that firmly believes law enforcement and diplomacy don’t mix, and I agree. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been silent about the attempted Christmas Day attack where the Nigerian had a multiple entry U.S. visa. She has not come forward with any suggestions on how to improve the visa screening process or if she will immediately cancel visas in the future. Had her department done its job, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab would not have been allowed to board Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam and given the opportunity to destroy the airplane over Detroit. After initially saying this was an isolated incident, the president now says the system failed and that we are at war with al Qaeda. If we are at war, why did the White House deny U.S. intelligence services the opportunity to interrogate Abdulmutallab to learn the location of Yemen training camps, the identities of other terrorists who received similar training, and what their intended targets are? Instead of sending Abdulmutallab to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation before facing a military tribunal, he was advised of his rights and given constitutional protections to which he is not entitled. Deputy National Security Advisor for counterterrorism, John Brennan, also believes Gitmo should be closed. He thinks the way the government should extract information from an enemy combatant is to agree to give him a lighter sentence in exchange for his stale information that will be worthless in preventing future terrorist attacks. How many more examples do Americans need before it’s obvious that liberals cannot be trusted with national security? Just ask Joe Lieberman.