WASHINGTON – Senator Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley is asking additional questions about the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System and how the friend of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s visa wasn’t revoked when his student status was terminated.
“It’s surprising that the administration isn’t already verifying that any student coming into the country has a valid student visa. What’s more concerning is that nearly 12 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we haven’t fixed the problems with identifying visa overstays. Unfortunately, the immigration reform bill that the committee will consider next week does nothing to close these types of loopholes and other problems with the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System,” Grassley said.
In his letter today, Grassley pressed for answers about Customs and Border Patrol agents’ use of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System and the apparent loopholes in the system. Grassley also asked about the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office website that advertises that nonimmigrants may be readmitted to the United States.
Yesterday, Grassley sent Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano a letter in the wake of revelations that a friend of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was arrested for a possible connection to Tsarnaev after the bombing, was in the United States after his student visa had been revoked. The letter asked Napolitano to answer questions about gaps in the system which have been illustrated by the friends of Tsarnaev.
Here’s a copy of the text of Grassley’s letter to Napolitano. A signed copy can be found here. Yesterday’s letter can be found here.
May 3, 2013
VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The Honorable Janet Napolitano
Secretary
Department of Homeland Security
3801 Nebraska Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20528
Dear Secretary Napolitano:
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were arrested on May 1 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their alleged involvement with the Boston Marathon bombing. They had been detained for immigration violations the previous week.
As I wrote you yesterday, I have concerns about the gaps in our immigration system that Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev have illustrated. Tazhayakov was reportedly dismissed from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth for academic reasons on January 4, 2013.1 Although Tazhayakov left the United States in December 2012, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials allegedly allowed him to return on January 20, 2013.2 Further, a law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity stated that Tazhayakov’s status was in the Department’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) when he entered the United States.3
A simple search on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website may reveal the source of this loophole in our immigration system. According to the website, under information for “Students/Exchange Visitors – Reentry for F-1 Nonimmigrants Traveling Outside the United States for Five Months or Less, Frequently Asked Questions”:
2.I. I want to travel outside the United States, but my SEVIS record has been terminated. Can I return if I travel?
. . .
There is no guarantee you will be readmitted to the United States if you travel on a terminated record. In most cases, inspectors will allow you to reenter the United States if you are otherwise admissible and your DSO has properly annotated your Form I-20. It is likely, however, you will be sent to secondary inspection while CBP determines whether you are eligible to return to the United States.4
This language seems to advertise the fact that in some cases, nonimmigrants may be readmitted to the United States even if they are traveling on a terminated SEVIS record. Although there is “no guarantee” of readmittance, this guidance seems to point out a way that individuals with harmful intent could re-enter the United States.
Additionally, news sources today report that the primary CBP inspector who admitted Tazhayakov did not even have access to SEVIS.5 Under existing procedures, only secondary CBP inspectors have SEVIS access.6
Accordingly, please respond to the following questions:
1. Why does the ICE website advertise the fact that in some cases, nonimmigrants may be readmitted to the United States even if they are traveling on a terminated SEVIS record?
2. How long has ICE had this information posted on the ICE website?
3. What guidelines are DSOs given for properly annotating Form I-20s for individuals whose SEVIS record has been terminated but wish to travel out of the United States?
4. What prevents an individual from fraudulently annotating a Form I-20?
5. If a nonimmigrant re-entering the United States is not sent to a secondary inspector, what means do primary inspectors typically use to verify whether a Form I-20 is properly annotated?
6. Was Tazhayakov’s I-20 annotated? If not, why was he admitted back into the United States?
7. Why has SEVIS access been previously limited to secondary CBP inspectors, and not primary CBP inspectors?
8. Although SEVIS access will reportedly be given to primary CBP inspectors and not just secondary inspectors, will primary CBP inspectors be required to check SEVIS, or simply have access?
9. Is there a standard CBP policy on readmitting nonimmigrants whose SEVIS record has been terminated?
10. What immediate steps outside of previously-planned technology modernization are being taken to correct the issue of non-compatibility of TECS and SEVIS to prevent unauthorized reentries in the future?
11. How many individuals does ICE estimate re-entered the United States from 2003 to 2013 despite having a terminated SEVIS record?
12. What is ICE doing to identify and remove individuals in the country who were readmitted notwithstanding a terminated SEVIS record? Will notices be provided to state and local law enforcement via fusion centers? Will these overstays be entered into any additional real time law enforcement databases?
Please respond to these questions by May 10, 2013. If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact Tristan Leavitt of my staff at (202) 224-5225. I look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
Ranking Member
cc: The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Chairman
U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary
1. Erin Smith and Richard Weir, “Kazakhs ‘liked to attract attention,’” Boston Herald (May 2, 2013), available at http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/05/kazakhs_like....
2. Alicia A. Caldwell, “Official: Student from Kazakhstan arrested in Boston bombing entered US without valid student visa,” Associated Press (May 1, 2013), available at http://www.startribune.com/nation/205644331.html.
3. Id.
4. Reentry for F-1 Nonimmigrants Traveling Outside the United States For Five Months or Less, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, available at http://www.ice.gov/sevis/travel/faq_f2.htm#_Toc81222023.
5. Alicia Caldwell, “U.S. Customs ordered to verify all int’l student visas,” Associated Press (May 3, 2013), available at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/03/customs-student-vis....
6. Id.
