Speech #1130115740

President. on Thursday this country will commemorate the 13th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. We learned many lessons from that day. One key lesson was that terrorists can and will exploit our immigration system and policies to enter and remain in the United States and now and into the future potentially harm Americans. The 9111 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers. some of whom entered on student visas and trained in flight schools in the United States. The 19 individuals applied for 23 visas. They lied on their applications. They failed to abide by the terms of their visas. This was a wakeup call that we needed better oversight of our visa programs. especially student visas. But this wasnt our first wakeup call. In 1993 the American people were confronted with the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. One of the instigators of that attack was on an expired student visa. Since 1993 we have mandated the tracking of foreign students and gave schools and universities a responsibility to help us monitor these programs while these students are on U.S. soil. Unfortunately. while this tracking system is up and running today. it is still antiquated and the Federal Government remains incapable of ensuring that those students who enter the country are truly attending our educational institutions. Today nearly 10.000 schools across the country accept foreign students. and those schools are responsible for communicating with our government about the whereabouts of these students. Enrollment of foreign students is increasing. According to the Brookings Institution. the number of foreign students on F1 visas in U.S. colleges and universities grew from 110.000 in 2001 to 524.000 in 2012. Despite this overwhelming increase. the technology and oversight of the student visa program has insufficiently improved. Now. 13 years after 9111. we have sham schools setting up in strip malls with no real classrooms. We have foreign nationals entering the United States with the intent to study but then disappear and never attend a class.