Via the AP:
A Department of Homeland Security “entry-exit” report released last month showed that nearly 629,000 people who came to the United States on a visa in fiscal year 2016 stayed after it expired, and were still here at the end of the year.
The latest research undercuts President Donald Trump’s claim that “a big, beautiful wall,” at a cost of $20 billion to $40 billion, is the answer to illegal immigration.
“No dollar spent on a border wall will stop someone from overstaying a visa,” said Philadelphia lawyer William Stock, a former national president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. A wall, however huge, he said, won’t stop anyone with the means to buy an airplane ticket and the connections to obtain a visa, if one is needed for visitors from that country.
To get one, prospective visitors are interviewed at a U.S. embassy or consulate overseas and produce evidence of ties to their native countries that seem sufficient for them to want to return home.. How difficult the process is depends on the country of origin and the traveler’s credibility at the interview.
The percentage of overstays varies widely from state to state. Pennsylvania ties (with Connecticut) for third highest, at 67 percent overstays among the state’s estimated 158,000 undocumented immigrants. New Jersey, at 63 percent, ranks sixth, with 286,000 overstays among its 452,000 illegal immigrants. In contrast, the undocumented populations in Kansas, Arkansas, and New Mexico consist of fewer than 25 percent overstays.
In a statement released with the Homeland Security report, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would expand its use of face-recognition software and fingerprint scans to scrutinize the 50 million travelers who enter the U.S. annually.
A Department of Homeland Security “entry-exit” report released last month showed that nearly 629,000 people who came to the United States on a visa in fiscal year 2016 stayed after it expired, and were still here at the end of the year.
The latest research undercuts President Donald Trump’s claim that “a big, beautiful wall,” at a cost of $20 billion to $40 billion, is the answer to illegal immigration.
“No dollar spent on a border wall will stop someone from overstaying a visa,” said Philadelphia lawyer William Stock, a former national president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. A wall, however huge, he said, won’t stop anyone with the means to buy an airplane ticket and the connections to obtain a visa, if one is needed for visitors from that country.
To get one, prospective visitors are interviewed at a U.S. embassy or consulate overseas and produce evidence of ties to their native countries that seem sufficient for them to want to return home.. How difficult the process is depends on the country of origin and the traveler’s credibility at the interview.
The percentage of overstays varies widely from state to state. Pennsylvania ties (with Connecticut) for third highest, at 67 percent overstays among the state’s estimated 158,000 undocumented immigrants. New Jersey, at 63 percent, ranks sixth, with 286,000 overstays among its 452,000 illegal immigrants. In contrast, the undocumented populations in Kansas, Arkansas, and New Mexico consist of fewer than 25 percent overstays.
In a statement released with the Homeland Security report, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would expand its use of face-recognition software and fingerprint scans to scrutinize the 50 million travelers who enter the U.S. annually.