Official: Trump ordered to severely punish countries whose citizens violate the visa regime

President Donald Trump has opened a new flank in his fight against illegal immigration. On April 22, he ordered his administration to develop a plan to take “severe action” against countries whose residents legally enter the United States but remain in the country after their visas expire.

The President signed a memorandum that requires the Secretary of State and the head of the Department of Homeland Security to submit plans for the suppression of visa delays to Trump during the 4 months, writes USA Today.

The measures involve the punishment of countries whose citizens are detained in the United States most often, as well as the requirement for foreign travelers to pay a deposit upon arrival, which will be returned only when a person leaves America.

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Members of both parties have long complained that visa overstays are as big a problem as undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border. More than 1,2 million foreigners remained in the United States forоThe longest term than a visa in the period from 2016 to 2017, according to the latest data from the Department of Homeland Security.

“While the United States benefits from lawful (nonimmigrant) entry, individuals who abuse the visa process and refuse to comply with the terms of their visas, including departure dates, undermine the integrity of our immigration system and harm the national interest,” Trump wrote in his memorandum.

Accurately measure the number of visa overdue is difficult.

In the 2006 year, the Pew Research Center estimated that almost half of the 11 millions of illegal immigrants entered the country legally on visas, but remained after the expiration of the visas, becoming illegal immigrants under the threat of deportation.

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The federal government only recently began closely monitoring delinquencies, releasing its first report in January 2016 under the Obama administration. But the reports immediately revealed the scale of the problem - more than 600 foreigners were stranded in the US after their visas expired in both 000 and 2016.

And since illegal immigration remains at a historic minimum, this means that most new undocumented immigrants legally enter through land, air, and seaports with visas in their hands.

Cessation of the issuance of visas has proven to be as difficult as closing the southern border.

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After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Congress passed a law requiring the federal government to record the fingerprints of all foreigners entering and leaving the country. This biometric information is considered more reliable than the biographical information that is now the norm - names, dates of birth and paper travel documents.

The US Customs and Border Protection Service has initiated many pilot projects to test this technology, including face recognition software, which is already in use at 13 airports throughout the country. But the government is not yet in a position to implement a nationwide biometric entry and exit control system, ordered by Congress almost 20 years ago.

The Trump memorandum offers other suggestions on ways to reduce delinquency.

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He instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “interact with the governments” of countries in which more than 10% of their citizens are traveling to the US on short-term visas and remaining in the country. Possible penalties include limiting the number of visas issued to citizens of these countries, limiting the time during which citizens will be allowed to travel to the USA, the requirement to provide more documents when traveling.

And although the memorandum gives Pompeo and acting head of internal security department Kevin McAlinan time to develop broader strategies, the president made it clear that they should do everything possible at that time.

“The Secretary of State and Homeland Security must immediately begin taking all appropriate actions within their authority to reduce overstay rates for all classes of (nonimmigrant) visas,” Trump wrote.

If we exclude data on students and exchange students, as well as the “other” categories, then among citizens of post-Soviet countries who overstayed the most popular type of visa - business / tourist - statistics for 2017 year is as follows:

• Armenia - 5,13%
• Azerbaijan - 6,83%
• Belarus - 4,41%
• Georgia - 9,48%
• Kazakhstan - 3,63%
• Kyrgyzstan - 4,07%
• Moldova - 4,58%
• Russia - 1,52%
• Tajikistan - 5,42%
• Turkmenistan - 6,95%
• Ukraine - 4,69%
• Uzbekistan - 5,55%

The majority of visa violators in the “tourist and business” category arrived in the United States from countries in Africa and the Middle East. Among the leaders are Djibouti (42,30%), Eritrea (26,54%), Liberia (20,74%), Solomon Islands (30,12%). Problem countries also include Yemen, Syria, Chad, Eritrea, Somalia, Cape Verde, Cambodia, and Laos.

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