*EPF205 08/03/2004
Transcript: International Student Registration Program Said to Enhance Safety
(Homeland security official says students getting used to system) (3020)
After barely a year and a half in operation, a foreign student registration program is already improving the security of the United States and helping students begin their U.S. educational experience, according to Under Secretary of Homeland Security Asa Hutchison.
Hutchison reviewed the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS) in a speech in Washington August 2.
Implemented in January 2003, SEVIS transformed an inefficient paper-based record-keeping system into an integrated data-sharing system involving cooperation from the U.S. State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, thousands of educational institutions and the students and visitors themselves.
Officials say SEVIS is not a barrier to legitimate educational exchange, but produces efficiencies in communications.
The Internet-based student registration system enables U.S. academic institutions to maintain accurate and timely data on foreign students, exchange visitors and their dependents, and to communicate this information to the departments of Homeland Security and State in real time.
Before SEVIS, educational institutions notified the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) by mail when they accepted an international student. The INS then notified the host institution by mail when the student entered the United States, and the host institution was required to report the student if he or she failed to enroll or otherwise became "out-of-status."
SEVIS enables the government to know if international students are abiding by the terms of the visas through which they entered the United States. All incoming international students must be registered in SEVIS by their host institution before the student can obtain an F (academic study), M (vocational study) or J (cultural exchange) type visa to enter the United States.
Under development since the mid-1990s, SEVIS' implementation became more urgent after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States because some of the terrorists had gained entry to the United States on student visas.
"I believe our country is safer ... because of the capabilities of this new international Internet student program," Hutchison said. "SEVIS provides an important security measure for our country. But it also provides us with a way to ensure that legitimate students are welcomed to our country and that we are prepared to help them if a problem arises."
Hutchinson said the United States must remain "fully committed" to welcoming international students and to ensure that the United States remains their "destination of choice" for education.
The under secretary's speech also touched upon some broader security issues: the announcement of an elevated security threat in targeted districts of New York City, Washington and northern New Jersey; and the publication of a report from the 9/11 Commission, a congressionally appointed panel that conducted a wide-ranging analysis of the nation's security and intelligence apparatus related to 2001 terrorist attacks.
Following is the transcript of the Hutchison speech:
(begin transcript)
REMARKS AS DELIVERED
UNDER SECRETARY ASA HUTCHINSON
BORDER AND TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
BACK TO SCHOOL: FOREIGN STUDENTS
AND HOMELAND SECURITY
WASHINGTON, D.C.
AUGUST 2, 2004
Thank you, Jim. It is my pleasure to be back at the Heritage Foundation to talk about a very important subject, which is how we look at our foreign students that come into our country.
Obviously, this has become more timely as a result of what we have seen over the last couple of days and yesterday's announcement. I think my presentation here I did not want to delay because of the work we have ongoing. I felt like it was an important message to communicate to the American public and to those that are working on security issues as to what we are doing in terms of enhancing the security of our borders.
I think this is timely, one - because of the threat environment that we are currently in. But secondly, it is timely because of the 9-11 Commission report that continues to gain currency and consideration, as it should have in Washington D.C among those looking at the security issues.
Whenever you look at the 9-11 Commission report, one of the most important elements of that report was that it encouraged the Department of Homeland Security and our government to continue to build on an entry-exit system with biometric capabilities, and to enhance our border security.
That's what the Department has been doing, and again most people think of the 9-11 Commission report as to what's in the most current debate, which is reorganizing our intelligence community, which this administration has been engaged in - intelligence reform.
But if you look under the radar to many of the elements of the Commission report you will see item after item of issues that we have been working on as a Department, and we're grateful for the support of the Commission report in pushing these initiatives forward - from, for example, national standards for driver's licenses issued by the state to a more comprehensive entry-exit system to increased border security efforts that we have been engaged on.
Yesterday, as you know, the Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with our state and local authorities and the private sector, raised the threat level to Code Orange for the financial institutions in New York, northern New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.
This action was in very specific response to credible intelligence information that was gained from a variety of streams of information, including results from overseas operations. These sources indicate that al Qaeda has targeted specific sites for potential attack.
What is different about the announcement yesterday is, first of all, we shared more information with the American public than we ever have before. Why did we do that?
First of all, because we had the information, and that's a compliment to our intelligence gathering capability that our men and women are doing overseas. Secondly, because we believe the American public has a need and a reason to know this information so they will understand the increased security operations so that they will, obviously, if they have a connection with those buildings, they can make the right decisions for themselves.
The second thing that was unusual about the announcement yesterday is that it is a new use of the threat advisory system. In the previous instances in which the threat level has been raised, it was raised nationally, and this was necessary because we had general threat information that was credible but was not specific in terms of the target.
We are grateful this time that it was more specific information because we could share that with the American public and not raise it nationally, but specifically to the geographic areas and the financial sector that was impacted by these threats.
The other thing that we shared, of course, was the protective measures that were put into place. Whenever you look at what the City of New York and the City of Washington, D.C. have done with additional canine teams, surveillance, ID checks, law enforcement presence, we hope that each worker in each of these institutions will feel comfortable with the security measures, make the right decisions, and go about their business
I'm very gratified by the way the American public handles this information. They get it. They don't let the terrorists take away our freedoms and our way of life. We go about our activities with a higher state of awareness and having confidence in the law enforcement steps that have been made.
Now let me move toward the topic of this conversation today, and that is how we handle international students in today's post 9-11 world.
Someone said that America is the only nation ever to be founded upon a creed. In other words, America is about ideas, it is about values - and not just a geographic location. One of those values in our history is that we are a welcoming nation. That nature of America should not change.
Since our earliest days, we have defined ourselves not by what we take from the world, but what we give to the world - through our leadership, our culture, and yes, through teaching and education.
Today we are talking about foreign students, and foreign students and exchange visitors both are vital to the health and continued functioning of our democracy. They enrich America by bringing to our country their unique experience and perspective on the world, their knowledge and enthusiasm, and they share it with fellow students and with all of America.
But equally important is what they take from America - a first-hand understanding of those founding principles and ideals, and direct access to our best and brightest minds at our finest educational institutions.
Foreign students are the exporters of the American experience. That is why we must remain fully committed to welcoming them in our country and ensuring that America remains their destination of choice for education.
I'll never forget this last year when I met the President of Georgia - Mikhail Saakashvili. He introduced me at the Blair House to the members of his Cabinet and each of them identified themselves not by where they were from in their country, but by what university they attended in America. Extraordinary.
You will find the same high regard for our academic institutions all across the world. King Abdullah of Jordan received his degree in America. 21 of the 30 Saudi Ministers received their degrees in America. 16 members of the new Iraqi government were educated in the West.
And you could go country by country abroad and recognize the historic contribution our educational institutions have had in formulating friends and formulating an understanding of the United States.
But as we learned on September 11th, not every visitor to our country is here to learn the ways of America.
Hani Hanjour came to our country to study English in 1991. He came back in 1996 and 1997 to attend flight school. On September 25, 2000 he obtained a student visa allowing him to return to the United States.
He arrived in San Diego on December 8th. On September 11th, 2001 he piloted American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, killing almost 200 people.
One of the key lessons of 9-11 was that our country could not afford to continue doing "business as usual." As the 9-11 Commission final report notes, in the 21st century, we cannot fight wars of the past.
This has required significant changes to our system of granting student visas and tracking student travel. As you know, one of the most important new initiatives to enhance the security of our entry process for foreign students is SEVIS - the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.
It is an Internet-based system for maintaining information on international students and exchange visitors, administered by the Department of Homeland Security through Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And it is in partnership with our academic institutions.
Incredibly, before we put SEVIS into place, we were still tracking student visas through a paper-based system. You can imagine how well that worked, or how poorly that worked, and I'm sure many of you remember the horror stories to share.
This Internet-based system, though, was mandated by Congress in 1996. It languished, and after 9-11 it was mandated to move forward in a more rapid fashion through the USA PATRIOT Act.
This was implemented in January 2003. It had initial difficulty, but by August of 2003 all international students and exchange visitors entering the United States were required to register with the program.
Let me emphasize that when the Department of Homeland Security was created, the program was substantially broken, and we fixed it. In fact, SEVIS was awarded the E-GOV Institute's Pioneer Award as a "best practice" program for improved operation, innovative applications, and a streamlined process.
Today it is working, and the compliment goes to the SEVIS team that is working at ICE to make this program effective, and the partnership that they have with their academic partners.
Today, we have over 770,000 students and exchange visitors that are registered in this program, as well as 100,000 of their dependents.
SEVIS requires students to register on-line with the schools, and the schools are required to keep us apprised of their status. With these records, we can acquire better accountability - knowing who is in our country and what they are doing, and if they are abiding by the terms of their visa into the United States.
When ICE implemented this system, they found 36,600 potential status violators in the program. To put that in perspective again: 770,000 students, 36,000 potential violators - or notifications from the universities of anomalies in individuals who are attending classes.
These records were vetted. Several thousand of these students never made it to the United States. Others had been suspended from their programs or expelled from the schools or transferred. But on the whole, most could be accounted for.
Ultimately, 1,600 violators could not be cleared, and after investigating those we arrested 155 individuals. I believe our country is safer because of that action and because of the capabilities of this new international Internet student program.
SEVIS provides an important security measure for our country. But it also provides us with a way to ensure that legitimate students are welcomed to our country and that we are prepared to help them if a problem arises.
Let me emphasize that we do not want to turn international students away at our borders because there is a minor paperwork issue. I have raised four teenagers, and I know that they sometimes forget items that they are supposed to have.
Knowing that there would be hundreds of thousands of foreign students coming into our shores and into our ports of entry, knowing that someone might have a technical problem - SEVIS? What is that? What are you speaking of? - we set up Special Response Teams to help students address those issues when they arise.
These teams worked with our inspectors at the ports of entry, the schools, and the students - and we appreciate the extraordinary support and partnership of everyone involved.
The first Special Response Team received more than 8,000 calls and assisted more than 5,400 cases involving students attempting to enter our country over a 45 day period.
ICE created a second team in January, when 150,000 students entered the country. That team only had 550 cases. So the first team had 5,400 cases. The second team - 550 cases. That indicates the system is working, that students are becoming more educated on the process, becoming more comfortable with it, and fewer technical violations.
That's product of what we're trying to do at Homeland Security, but I want to say that the educational organizations like NAFSA and AAU were instrumental in making this a success.
The fact that we were able to have these response teams allowed us to overcome when someone would come into a port of entry and say, "We are registered, we don't know what the problem is," but they weren't in the system. We would call the school, the school would say, "Yes, they're in the system." They would fax us the information. We wouldn't send that student home, but we would welcome them into our country because we fixed the problem.
But where the university would say, "We have never heard of them," then we know that we've got a problem, and those are the ones after the proper checks were turned away from our country. We're going to continue this SEVIS program office as we welcome more people this year into our country. It will be an ongoing effort.
We also have a partnership with the Social Security Administration to verify the status of the visitors more quickly because they are required to have social security cards so that they can get those in a more rapid fashion. We've had an excellent partnership with them.
Through this process, though, as I've mentioned we've had a couple of enforcement operations.
An Oklahoma community college reported six Pakistani students, all in their early 20s, for failing to maintain their immigration status. Cooperation of the universities with Homeland Security. Two of those men were ultimately arrested - one was in illegal possession of a firearm.
In several cases, ICE has investigated corrupt school officials who were selling fraudulent documents and transcripts to individuals wanting to enter the country illegally. These documents were being sold for up to $400 each. This type of fraud was far less easily exposed under the old paper-based system.
In another case, a student from Central Asia who had been expelled from a college in Maryland made a threat to the school. ICE investigated the case and she was arrested for an immigration violation.
And so we can point to these criminal cases and the importance of this program in addressing potential risks to our country. But fundamentally, it is important to acknowledge that the vast majority of students registered as international visitors are here for a single goal, and that is to experience our educational institutions, our country, our freedoms, our democracy, to contribute to society, and to go back and enrich their own countries.
We are committed to remaining a welcoming nation to those students and visitors, and making their experience a positive one. This internet-based visitor program is an important part of that process - and so are the partnerships represented in this room.
Let me conclude by referring to Thomas Jefferson, who said that America must be, "a light unto the nations."
I'd like to thank you for supporting this program that allows international visitors to come to our country in a secure fashion, that allows the United States of America to continue to be a light unto all the nations of the world. That is our objective. That is what we are trying to accomplish. We realize how important that is to our nation.
Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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