FIX OUR BROKEN VISA SYSTEM

Automation Must Happen

In the Real World

Early on, Amazon tracked my purchases and began making suggestions for purchases.  Netflix watched my ratings and made helpful suggestions as to what I might wish to view next.  Our phones, whether we like it or not, track our movements.  The business world knows us better than our best friends do.  Why can’t the government when it makes us safer?

Public Sector Inefficiency

I’ve used the DMV previously as an example of how poorly our government runs things (everything?).  They wouldn’t really know where we’ve been without the aid of the private sector, such as phone companies and airlines.  Despite having spent millions (or more) of our dollars on automation, the result is still pretty pathetic.  No one is surprised; and none of us feel we can fix it.

But the recent tsunami of immigration has caused most of us to consider what needs to be done.  Border walls, eVerify and more would help those who cross our borders illegally. But what about those who come legally (Visas), but don’t leave?  It turns out that over 850,000 foreigners overstayed visas in 2022 without being tracked or ejected; something the 9/11 hijackers took advantage of.  That’s more than the number of people who illegally crossed our border.

Even knowing the risks, since visa entrants are rarely vetted, the US government has found no great way to track people who overstay.  Shockingly, over a billion dollars of taxpayer money was used by Immigration Services to build a system to do this very thing; it never worked right.  We’ve seen this often with government-initiated computer projects.

Data shows that over half of the illegal population in the US were visa-overstays, not border-crossers.  Among these are likely many dangerous foreigners who put our country at risk.  Terrorists, sure, but also criminals easily evade our “detection” system.  In 2015, thousands came and stayed from places like Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Syria.  Some might have been good people, but they’re still breaking our laws by staying longer than permitted.

One claim is that some people might have a lengthy visa and then, in the process apply for another one.  US Citizenship and Immigration Services claims it is “just too hard to tell if someone has overstayed their visa.  Oddly, many other countries don’t seem to have this problem.

A Solution

First, you get a top-rated consulting firm who has a track record of success in finding, configuring and installing computer systems, tying the visa and passport system to a tracking system.  An outside group of taxpayers with experience in this area (CIOs of profitable companies would be a good target), to vet the process, ensuring that no politician is able to lean on the scale for a company that funds them or is simply in their state.

Next, you build a top-rated performance contract with the company.  If the system doesn’t function, they don’t get paid.  Period.  It must be able to send out notifications to people who are overstaying, as well as initiate action if those notifications come back non-deliverable.  Collect smart phone IME data from anyone seeking a visa, so that their location might be tracked.  Yes, they might use a burner, but this gives some heads-up.  For longer-stay visas, such as work and school visas, make the recipient responsible to notify the agency with proof of their status, such as a letter from the company or school. 

No, it isn’t easy, but simply putting in place a robust system with public notification of how many people are caught will deter many.  We also need a way to vet people who apply for a visa if they come from suspect countries.  Automation brings down the cost, but we need to be better at this.  My guess is that Israel has a good model for all of this, as they must be more vigilant than most countries.  I’d start there.  As most people are unaware of the visa-overstay problem, this should bring new attention to it.

No one has a right to come to this country and stay.  No one.  Even those refugees we accept should be few in number; we aren’t the world’s caretakers.  And if you come illegally, you should get nothing from us taxpayers.  No water, food, medical care, housing or transportation. Imagine how great it would be to attract fewer people and incur lower costs if we pledged to do nothing for them.