Post by Soutpeel on Apr 8, 2016 17:15:57 GMT 7
AT LAST, HARD NUMBERS ABOUT OVERSTAYING VISAS
Attachment Deleted
After several years of promising, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week finally delivered its first report documenting the number of “visa overstays”—travelers to the United States who come on a legal visa but then fail to leave when the lawful duration of their stay expires.
The good news is that roughly 99 percent of all visitors comply and go home when they are supposed to; the bad news is that, with more than 40 million visitors last year, the 1 percent who didn’t go home still adds up to nearly 500,000 overstayers.
That number was seized on by immigration critics who are always eager to confirm their belief that the United States has no control over its borders. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary immigration subcommittee, said the report “boggles the mind.”
Well no, it actually doesn’t. Indeed, the level of compliance is, if anything, astonishingly high. And by finally releasing the report, the Obama administration has offered up real numbers to refocus the debate on the right question—if 99 percent compliance is not good enough, what will it take to get to 100?
First, a little context. It has long been known that some significant percentage of the roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States did not come illegally across the land borders, but instead arrived on a legal visa—usually a tourist or business visa—and then just never went home. The best academic estimates have suggested that number might be more than 40 percent.
europe.newsweek.com/overstaying-visas-united-states-418273
Attachment Deleted
After several years of promising, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week finally delivered its first report documenting the number of “visa overstays”—travelers to the United States who come on a legal visa but then fail to leave when the lawful duration of their stay expires.
The good news is that roughly 99 percent of all visitors comply and go home when they are supposed to; the bad news is that, with more than 40 million visitors last year, the 1 percent who didn’t go home still adds up to nearly 500,000 overstayers.
That number was seized on by immigration critics who are always eager to confirm their belief that the United States has no control over its borders. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary immigration subcommittee, said the report “boggles the mind.”
Well no, it actually doesn’t. Indeed, the level of compliance is, if anything, astonishingly high. And by finally releasing the report, the Obama administration has offered up real numbers to refocus the debate on the right question—if 99 percent compliance is not good enough, what will it take to get to 100?
First, a little context. It has long been known that some significant percentage of the roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States did not come illegally across the land borders, but instead arrived on a legal visa—usually a tourist or business visa—and then just never went home. The best academic estimates have suggested that number might be more than 40 percent.
europe.newsweek.com/overstaying-visas-united-states-418273
