Written testimony of USCIS Enterprise Services Directorate for a House Committee on Homeland Securit

Written vacation packages las vegas testimony of ICE for a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security hearing titled "Border Security Oversight, Part III: Border Crossing Cards and B1/B2 Visas" | Defense Home Land Atlanta
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the efforts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to prevent vacation packages las vegas the exploitation of our nonimmigrant visa system. Through specific intelligence and the use of sophisticated data systems, ICE identifies and tracks millions of foreign students, tourists, and temporary workers who are present in the United States at any given time. Visa overstays and other forms of nonimmigrant status violations bring together two critical areas of ICE's mission—national security and immigration enforcement. My testimony today will focus on the process of identifying, tracking and investigating overstays.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is focused on enhancing its vetting initiatives across the full mission space of homeland security by providing real-time biographic and biometric data to its front-line operational vacation packages las vegas components while continuing to set leading biometric policies and standards. To this end, ICE's Overstay Analysis vacation packages las vegas Unit (OAU) analyzes biographical entry and exit records stored in DHS's Arrival vacation packages las vegas and Departure Information System (ADIS) to support the Department's ability to identify vacation packages las vegas international travelers who have remained in the United States beyond their authorized periods of admission. DHS' Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) and ADIS provide person-centric information and enable DHS to search biometric and biographic data against government databases to establish and confirm the identities of individuals that DHS has already encountered. DHS's Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) supports DHS components by returning vacation packages las vegas any linked information from a match against its database to aid in their vetting of individuals already encountered vacation packages las vegas by DHS to identify known or suspected terrorists, national security threats, criminals, and those who have previously violated U.S. immigration laws.
The OAU analyzes and validates two types of nonimmigrant overstay vacation packages las vegas records: out-of-country overstays (OCO) and in-country overstays (ICO). OCO records pertain to visitors who stayed beyond their authorized vacation packages las vegas admission period and subsequently departed the country. The OAU validates these violations based on their reported departure dates and creates biometric and biographic lookouts for these subjects. The lookouts are posted in two separate databases: DHS' IDENT Secondary Inspection Tool and TECS 1 , in order to alert and notify Department of State consular officers and CBP officers of a subject's violation before he or she is granted a visa or is readmitted vacation packages las vegas to the United States. ICO records pertain to visitors with no evidence of departure or adjustment of status upon expiration of the terms of their admission.
The OAU makes overstay and status violation vacation packages las vegas referrals from three unique sources, which apply to typical overstay violators, admitted watchlist subjects, and Visa Waiver Program (VWP) violators. The first source, nonimmigrant overstay leads, is used to generate field investigations by identifying foreign visitors who violate the terms of their admission by remaining in the United States past the date of their required departure. The second source, admitted watchlist leads, monitors records for individuals who, at the time of admission to the United States, were the subject of a watchlist record containing derogatory information that did not render them inadmissible to the United States, but did warrant vacation packages las vegas monitoring their visit. The third source is the Counterterrorism and Criminal Exploitation Unit's (CTCEU) Visa Waiver Enforcement Program (VWEP).
The CTCEU is the first national program dedicated to the enforcement of nonimmigrant visa violators. Each year, the CTCEU analyzes records of hundreds of thousands of potential status violators after preliminary analysis of data from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) and the OAU along with other information. After this analysis, CTCEU determines potential violations that warrant field investigations and/or establishes compliance or departure dates from the United States. Between 15,000 vacation packages las vegas and 20,000 SEVIS and ADIS records are analyzed each month and, since the creation of the CTCEU in 2003, over two million such records have been analyzed using automated and manual review techniques.
Today, through the CTCEU, ICE proactively vacation packages las vegas develops cases for investigation in cooperation with the Student and Exchange Visitor Program and OAU. These programs enable ICE special agents to access vacation packages las vegas information about the millions of students, tourists, temporary workers, and other nonimmigrants present in the United States at any given time, and to identify vacation packages las vegas those who have overstayed or otherwise violated the terms and conditions of their admission. ICE special agents and analysts monitor the latest threat reports and proactively address emergent issues. This practice, which is designed to detect and identify individuals exhibiting specific risk factors based on intelligence reporting, including travel patterns and in-depth criminal research and analysis, has contributed to DHS's counterterrorism mission by initiating and supporting high-priority national security initiatives based on specific intelligence.
In order to ensure that the potential violators who pose the greatest threats to national security vacation packages las vegas are given top priority, vacation packages las vegas ICE uses intelligence-based vacation packages las vegas criteria developed in close consultation with the intelligence and law enforcement communities. ICE chairs the Compliance Enforcement Advisory Panel (CEAP), comprised of subject matter experts from other law enforcement agencies and members of the Intelligence Community who assist vacation packages las vegas the CTCEU in maintaining targeting methods in line with the most current threat information. The CEAP is convened on a tri-annual basis to discuss recent intelligence developments and update the CTCEU's targeting framework in order to ensure that the nonimmigrant overstays and status violators who pose the greatest threats to national vacation packages las vegas security are targeted.
The third unique vacation packages las vegas source for overstay and status violation referrals is CTCEU's VWEP. Visa-free travel to the United States builds upon our close bilateral relationships and fosters commercial and personal ties among tourist and business travelers in the United States and abroad. VWP, the primary source of nonimmigrant visitors from countries other than Canada and Mexico, currently allows eligible nationals of 37 countries 2 to travel to the United States vacation packages las vegas without a visa and, if admitted, to remain in the country for a maximum of 90 days for tourism or business purposes. Prior to the implementation of the VWEP in 2008, there was no national program dedicated to addressing overstays within this population. Today, ICE regularly scrutinizes a refined list of individuals who have been identified as potential overstays who entered the United States under the VWP. One of the primary goals of this program is to identify those subjects who attempt to circumvent vacation packages las vegas the U.S. immigration system by obtaining travel documents from VWP countries.
In Fiscal Year 2012, the CTCEU received 38,335 vacation packages las vegas B1/B2 violator leads. An automated vetting process closed 24,325 cases leaving 14,010 potential violators. The most common reasons for closure were subsequent departure from the United States or adjustment of immigration status to that of a lawful permanent vacation packages las vegas resident. A total of 985 prioritized leads were sent to the field resulting in 253 arrests that met CTCEU's national security criteria. vacation packages las vegas The remaining cases were referred to Enforcement and Removal Operations for possible enforcement action or closed.
ICE is proud of the good work accomplished over the last ten years to protect the integrity of our visa system. We are committed to promoting national security and have made significant progress in identifying visa overstay vacation packages las vegas violators by working closely with our international, federal, state, local, and tribal partners to combat visa fraud and protect the integrity of our visa system.
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