Trump pushes even more ‘ extreme vetting system’
President wants to immediately scrap diversity visa program
Hours after terror struck New York City, President Trump ordered security officials to tighten the United States’ “already extreme vetting system” and demanded that Congress immediately scrap a visa program for underrepresented countries that let the suspect legally enter the U. S. in 2010.
Trump said the two- pronged response, outlined in tweets and public comments, is needed to ensure that no more would- be terrorists infiltrate the U. S. through the legal immigration system.
Both demands immediately drew concerns from critics Wednesday about the wisdom of Trump’s proposed changes, his ability to implement them and what exactly he wants.
Asked how Homeland Security would “step up” the vetting of foreigners, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting press secretary, Tyler Houlton, said, “You’ll have to contact the White House regarding the president’s tweet.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders later said the vetting enhancements should include the collection of more biographic and biometric information, more information- sharing with foreign law enforcement agencies and an “overall heightened scrutiny and more thorough review procedure.”
How that would be implemented is unclear.
The federal government has broad powers to limit or suspend immigration in the name of national security, as it did in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Trump has learned he does not have absolute power to limit immigration. His efforts to implement a travel ban against majority- Muslim countries have repeatedly been struck down, or limited, by federal judges.
Immigration experts called Trump’s proposals an overreaction that would do little to improve national security.
Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute who has studied terrorist acts committed by immigrants, said it appeared that the New York City terror suspect – Sayfullo Saipov – be- came radicalized after he arrived in the U. S. from Uzbekistan through the diversity visa program seven years ago.
The diversity program, created by Congress in 1990, uses a lottery to admit up to 50,000 immigrants a year from countries whose citizens are less likely to obtain visas through the normal process. Most are from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
Nowrasteh said Saipov’s alleged radicalization in the U. S. mirrored that of other domestic terrorists in recent years, including those responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the 2016 shooting massacre at an Orlando nightclub.
Of the 2.6 billion foreigners admitted into the U. S. from 2002 through 2016, fewer than 10 terrorists entered as a result of a vetting failure, according to a Cato report.