Word: visa
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...Washington, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is regarded as a mess; even its spokesman, Russ Bergeron, says it has "languished for decades." In 1996 Congress told the ins to set up a computer system to track those who come into the U.S. on student visas; but with some 600,000 such people in a country with more than 22,000 educational institutions, the system is not yet up and running. Only one of the 19 hijackers entered on a student visa. Can screenings in foreign countries be tightened? Maybe, but all 19 were run through a computerized "watch list...
...These same reforms were brought up after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, where one perpetrator was here on an expired visa," says Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies. "We lacked the sustained political will to put these things in place." Indeed Congressmen from Texas-border districts are already carping about loss of business. Worse, the INS is losing agents at the very moment it is supposed to button down the borders, because hundreds are seeking better-paying jobs as air marshals...
...World from the few who might blow it up. The INS recently detained a Pakistani business analyst, who was trying to fly from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to New York City but didn't have his papers with him. After the traveler's lawyer faxed a copy of his business visa, an INS agent let him board the plane with one final plea: "I hope you are not a terrorist. Don't embarrass...
...Yemeni who once shared an apartment with ringleader Mohamed Atta. On Sept. 21, Germany issued a warrant for Binalshibh, naming him as an accomplice in the attacks. U.S. investigators believe Binalshibh tried to enter the U.S. to take his place among the hijackers but was denied a visa for unknown reasons. He won't be coming back soon; he left Germany just before Sept. 11, possibly for Pakistan...
...quit Visa International last year to help start Open Business Exchange, which delivers invoices electronically. In Europe and the U.S. more than 15 billion invoices are processed each year at an estimated cost of nearly $14 each because 95% of bills are processed manually...