Grassley Presses for Information about Oversight of Foreign Students Attending Flight Schools

WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is questioning the Obama administration’s oversight of flight schools and their training of foreign nationals.  Grassley is reiterating concerns after a Jordanian national, who was reportedly in the United States on a student visa, in October crashed a small plane during a training exercise at the entrance to the Pratt & Whitney factory in East Hartford, Conn.  According to local law enforcement, the Pratt & Whitney plant is classified as a “critical infrastructure” facility by the U.S. government.

In a letter to department heads of both the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration, Grassley expressed concern that foreign nationals continue trying to use flight schools as a means to harm or kill Americans, and asked what is being done to prevent exploitation of flight training programs.  He also asked for additional information on the latest incident involving the Jordanian national in Connecticut.  

“Ever since the September 11 terrorist attacks, oversight of flight training by foreign nationals has been an issue of enormous national security importance. Concerns about the potential use of small aircraft in particular have been increasing,” Grassley wrote.    

Grassley introduced legislation in 2014 to reform the student visa program.  The bill would help root out fraud and abuse in the student visa system, including ending a flight school’s participation in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program if the training program is not certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.  

Here is the text of Grassley’s letter to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration Michael Huerta.  A copy of the letter can also be found here.  

December 19, 2016

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

The Honorable Jeh Johnson
Secretary Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528

The Honorable Michael Huerta
Administrator
Federal Aviation Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
Washington, D.C. 20591

Dear Secretary Johnson and Administrator Huerta:

I am writing to request information about the Administration’s oversight of flight training by foreign nationals. I am particularly concerned about this subject in light of the crash on October 11 of an airplane in East Hartford, Connecticut piloted by Mr. Feras M. Freitekh, a Jordanian national in the United States reportedly on a student visa.1 Mr. Freitekh was killed in the crash and his flight instructor, Mr. Arian Prevalla, who was also onboard, survived, but was severely injured.2 Mr. Prevalla, is also the owner of American Flight Academy, the flight school attended by Mr. Freitekh.3

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a statement the next day that its initial investigation of the crash “indicates the crash is the result of an intentional act.”4 The NTSB is accordingly transferring lead for the investigation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).5 East Hartford police also asked the FBI to become involved in the investigation because the plane went down next to the entrance gates of the Pratt & Whitney factory, which police say is classified as a “critical infrastructure” facility by the U.S. government.6 Pratt & Whitney is a global aerospace manufacturer; among its products are engines used in numerous U.S. military aircraft.7

According to media reports, Mr. Freitekh came to the United States on a temporary student visa in 2012 for flight training, though whether that immigration status remains valid is unclear.8 Federal Aviation Administration records indicate Freitekh was issued a private pilot’s license to fly a single-engine aircraft in May 2015.9 Mr. Freitekh provided a home address in Orland Hills, Illinois on his application for a flight school in Hartford, but police state he never lived at that address.10

Ever since the September 11 terrorist attacks, oversight of flight training by foreign nationals has been an issue of enormous national security importance. Concerns about the potential use of small aircraft in particular have been increasing. In September 2011, DHS and the FBI published a Joint Intelligence Bulletin in which they state that “[v]iolent extremists with knowledge of general aviation and access to small planes pose a significant potential threat to the Homeland.”11 Specifically, the Bulletin warns that “Al-Qa‘ida and its affiliates have maintained an interest in obtaining aviation training, particularly on small aircraft, and in recruiting Western individuals for training in Europe or the United States…”12

Numerous troubling incidents over the years have kept these concerns alive. In January 2002, a 15-year-old boy with aviation training died when he deliberately crashed a small plane into a Florida office building.13 A note recovered from the scene revealed the boy’s support for Osama bin Ladin.14 In 2008, ABC News reported that “[t]housands of foreign student pilots have been able to enroll and obtain pilot licenses from U.S. flight schools, despite tough laws passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks….”15 In 2010, DHS arrested dozens of illegal immigrants who were enrolled at TJ Aviation Flight Academy in Stow, Massachusetts.16 In September 2011, Rep. Henry Cuellar stated in a House Homeland Security Committee hearing that a couple weeks earlier several Mexican nationals had been discovered receiving flight training in south Texas without the proper visas.17 “It is troubling,” said Rep. Cuellar, “that even 10 years after the 9/11 we still have foreign nationals taking flight training in the United States without the requisite vetting or oversight.”18

In light of the foregoing, I would appreciate answers to the attached questions. Please also send a copy of the “A file” for Feras M. Freitekh.

I request that the Department respond to this letter no later than January 13, 2017. Should you have any questions, please contact Kathy Nuebel of my Committee staff at (202) 224-5225.

Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
Chairman

QUESTIONS
1.    What was the immigration status of Feras M. Freitekh on the date of the East Hartford crash?
 
2. What is the immigration status of TJ Aviation Inc. owner Thiago DeJesus? Is TJ Aviation Inc. or Mr. DeJesus still offering flight training to foreign nationals?

3. What is the immigration status of the 34 Brazilian nationals studying at TJ Aviation who were arrested by ICE in 2010? In particular, as of the date of this letter how many, if any, have been removed?

4. Under what circumstances, if any, are foreign nationals on the “No Fly” list allowed to receive flight training?

5. In response to a 2012 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report discussing vulnerabilities in TSA’s screening of foreign flight students, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement worked in collaboration with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on a pilot to determine lawful status of the active Alien Flight Student Program (AFSP) population.19 The House Homeland Security Committee was informed that, by December 31, 2012, TSA would “prepare a plan, with specific details on time frames and accountability, to assess the results of the pilot including recommendations for future steps.”20 Please send a copy of that TSA plan. If it was never completed, please (i) explain why it was never completed; and (ii) describe the results of the pilot program.

6. Under which nonimmigrant visa classifications (including dependent classifications, such as F-2, H-4, or L-2) may a foreign national receive flight training in the United States?
7. Which of the nonimmigrant classifications identified in the response to question #6 are not tracked in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)?

8. May a foreign student in the United States in F, J, or M status enrolled in a degree program or course of study that is unrelated to flight training also receive flight training? If so, would such flight training be captured or tracked by SEVIS in addition to any screening done by TSA’s Alien Flight Student Program (AFSP)?

9. If the “B” visa category (visitors for business or pleasure) is one of the categories in which an alien may receive flight training, please explain how that is possible in light of the prohibition on aliens coming to the United States on a B visa “for the purpose of study” (INA 101(a)(15)(B))?

10. TSA regulations prohibit a flight school from providing flight training to aliens unless the flight school or the alien submits certain information to TSA’s AFSP and TSA determines that the candidate is not a threat to aviation or national security.21 Is TSA AFSP screening of prospective flight students performed as a condition of issuance of an F, J, or M visa to a foreign national seeking to come to the United States for flight training? If not, why not?

1 Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Pilot in Crash Was in the U.S. on Student Visa,” Wall Street Journal (Oct, 13, 2016), available at http://www.wsj.com/articles/pilot-in-crash-was-in-the-u-s-on-student-visa-1476401797.
2 Id.
3 Id.
4 “Statement on East Hartford, Connecticut aircraft crash investigation,” National Transportation Safety Board Press Release, National Transportation Safety Board Office of Public Affairs (Oct. 12, 2016), available at http://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/PR20161012.aspx.
5 Id.
6 Nicholas Rondinone, David Owens and Christine Dempsey, “One Dead, Pilot Hurt in Plane Crash; FBI Investigating Whether It Was Intentional,” Hartford Courant (Oct. 12, 2016), available at http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-plane-crash-1012-20161011-story.html.
7 Saagar Enjeti, “Developing: Jordanian ‘Student’ Intentionally Slams Plane Into Downtown Conn. City,” The Daily Caller (Oct. 12, 2016) available at http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/12/jordanian-pilot-fatal-connecticut-plane-crash-not-an-accident/.
8 Id.
9 Rondinone, supra, note 6.
10 Kanno-Youngs, supra, note 1.
11 “Al-Qa‘ida and the Threat to General Aviation,” Joint Intelligence Bulletin, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Sep. 2, 2011), available at https://info.publicintelligence.net/DHS-FBI-GeneralAviation.pdf.
12 Id.
13 Id. at 4.
14 Id.
15 Brian Ross, Vic Walter, and Eric Longabardi, “9/11 Redux: ‘Thousands of Aliens’ in U.S. Flight Schools Illegally,” ABC News (Feb. 27, 2008), available at http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4353991&page=1.
16 Maria Sacchetti, “Stow flight school scrutinized,” The Boston Globe (Nov. 5, 2010), available at http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/11/05/flight_school_arrests_raise_terrorism_fears/?page=full.  
17 “Hearing on The Attacks of September 11th: Where are We Today,” Hearing Before the Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives (Sep. 8, 2011), at pp. 55-56, available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-112hhrg72929/pdf/CHRG-112hhrg72929.pdf.
18 Id. at 56.
19 “General Aviation Security: Weaknesses Exist in TSA’s Process for Ensuring Foreign Flight Students Do Not Pose a Security Threat,” Government Accountability Office, GAO 12-875 (July 18, 2012); Statement of John P. Woods, Assistant Director, National Security Investigations, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security Hearing on General Aviation Security and Foreign Flight Students Before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security (July 18, 2012), at p.2.
20 Woods, supra, note 20, at p.2.
21 “Flight Training for Aliens and Other Designated Individuals; Security Awareness Training for Flight School Employees,” Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Interim Final Rule, 69 Fed. Reg. 56,324 (Sep. 20, 2004).