The way the programs are run now, the proposal explains, undermines U.S. national security “due to reduced opportunities for direct vetting of foreign academic students by immigration officers. But it also places research universities and the nation at risk for economic, academic, or military espionage by foreign students and exchange visitors.” By Todd Bensman as published October 1, 2020 by … [Read more...] about Preventing Espionage and Terrorism: The Real Purpose Behind Trump’s Proposals for Foreign Student and Exchange Visitor Visas
America's Security Vetting Failures
Out of Yemen, a Reminder About What May Happen Without “Extreme Vetting” and “Travel Ban” Policies
Restoring visas from travel-restricted countries like Yemen, as Biden promises on grounds that Trump's restrictions are "vile" and "Islamaphobic," portends a return to the circumstances that brought a radical Houthi rebel fighter into the United States in 2014. By Todd Bensman as originally published August 27, 2020 by the Center for Immigration Studies All but lost in political convention … [Read more...] about Out of Yemen, a Reminder About What May Happen Without “Extreme Vetting” and “Travel Ban” Policies
Indictment of Pakistani Doctor H1-B Visa Holder for jihadist plot raises the question: How’s that Vetting Going?
This case undermines criticism that President Trump’s “Travel Ban” wrongly blocked U.S. entry of doctors from Muslim-majority countries on the temporary work H-1B visas. The case also is cause for reassessing current vetting in unlisted countries, to ensure threats are not imported among the doctors and other skilled professionals who use the visa. Finally, the American public, elected leaders, … [Read more...] about Indictment of Pakistani Doctor H1-B Visa Holder for jihadist plot raises the question: How’s that Vetting Going?
A Terror Case the Travel Ban Would Have Prevented
Opponents have decried the policy as a racist and religiously discriminatory "Muslim ban." But this defies the fact that Muslim-majority countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and many other Muslim-majority countries are not designated. Why would this be? Because these Muslim-majority countries keep criminal and intelligence records and share them with America. As … [Read more...] about A Terror Case the Travel Ban Would Have Prevented
Idiot Lights Blinking: Vetting Failures Still Favor Lying Terrorist Migrants
By Todd Bensman as published by the Center for Immigration Studies on April 30, 2019 New reports keep piling up that asylum seekers and refugees from terrorism-spawning countries have slipped through the U.S. vetting systems despite records of Islamic terrorism. Like episodic idiot-lights on the car dashboard that briefly blink on and then disappear for a while, news reports slowly raise … [Read more...] about Idiot Lights Blinking: Vetting Failures Still Favor Lying Terrorist Migrants
New Terrorism Case-In-Point: Why Somalia Is on the Travel Ban List and Must Stay There
How can U.S. officials vet refugees claiming to be from a country with no government records to check? As when they cross a U.S. land border unknown and with no ID, Somalis who formally apply for refugee resettlement — at, say, a U.S. embassy or refugee camp abroad — present a security challenge to officials trying to separate the malevolent from the benign. Discerning the difference for … [Read more...] about New Terrorism Case-In-Point: Why Somalia Is on the Travel Ban List and Must Stay There
Creative Destruction Media: One Afghan Military Interpreter Resettled in New Jersey Went Bad; Smuggled fellow Afghan ‘Security Risk’ over the Texas-Mexico Border
Case provides fair warning about the limits of U.S. security screening for Afghans By Todd Bensman as published September 15, 2021 by Creative Destruction Media With tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees in the pipeline for U.S. resettlement, the largely unreported federal prosecution of New Jersey resident Mujeeb Rahman Saify begs visitation as a reminder that national security screening … [Read more...] about Creative Destruction Media: One Afghan Military Interpreter Resettled in New Jersey Went Bad; Smuggled fellow Afghan ‘Security Risk’ over the Texas-Mexico Border
The National Interest magazine: Joe Biden Just Condemned America to More Chinese Espionage — and Worse
By Todd Bensman as originally published July 19, 2021 by The National Interest For nearly two years now, the FBI has nabbed dozens of Chinese Communist Party spies who, while posing as graduate students and research scholars at top academic institutions, siphoned out America’s most cutting edge national defense material for untold years. The spies, many secretly members of China’s … [Read more...] about The National Interest magazine: Joe Biden Just Condemned America to More Chinese Espionage — and Worse
An Afghan Vetting Failure
Doctor gained U.S. entry despite terror ties before and after screening By Todd Bensman as published September 10, 2021 by the Center for Immigration Studies In through a once-broken immigration front door that most Americans thought fixed after the 9/11 attacks came an Afghan doctor named Hayatullah Dawari, whose case is worth recalling on this 20th anniversary. The U.S. State … [Read more...] about An Afghan Vetting Failure
An Interview with Bensman, 20 Years After 9/11: Lessons Learned, Improvements Needed
Parsing Immigration Policy, Episode 20 n recognition of the 9/11 anniversary, the Center for Immigration Studies is publishing a new report by Todd Bensman, the Center’s senior national security fellow, analyzing the immigration failures which helped lead to the tragedy and examples of post-9/11 terrorists and others posing threats to U.S. interests who have weaponized travel visas and … [Read more...] about An Interview with Bensman, 20 Years After 9/11: Lessons Learned, Improvements Needed