Why can't foreign visitors with expired visas be tracked?

Border patrol guards

Last week, a young Jordanian man was arrested after it was revealed he planned to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. While it was fortunate this man was apprehended, the job of the law enforcement agencies was made all that more difficult because of the fact that he was in the country illegally, having stayed despite only having a tourist visa.

It is amazing to think that despite the many acts that have been passed in the wake of 9/11, there is still not a system in place to check that foreign visitors have left the country. The figures themselves are shocking. According to the New York Times, last year alone saw 2.9 million foreign nationals visit the country on temporary visas but never officially checked out. With no way to confirm these visitors' departures, it is thought that several hundred thousand of them, simply ignored the expiration of their visas and opted to stay in the country illegally.

With America's illegal immigration problem, a constant source of debate and focus, it is estimated that 40 percent of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States came on legal visas and overstayed, rather than smuggling themselves over the borders.

So how does America go about tackling this problem? Well, it seems everyone has a solution.

Homeland Security officials have said a universal electronic exit monitoring system is needed, while both Republican and Democratic senators have said money needs to be utilised on a serious monitoring system.

Currently, immigration authorities simply monitor foreign visitors and despite getting more than $1 billion from Congress since 9/11 and improving their systems, there is simply no way to conduct biometric inspections or a systematic follow-up to confirm that foreign visitors have departed.

Cost and actual implementation are the major headaches for Homeland Security, not to mention the current problem of monitoring America's vast and busy borders. With over one million border crossings happening every day, there is the real fear that a major upset in the system could hamper trade or worsen the situation for immigration agencies.

As of yet, all pilot programs implemented to combat the situation have failed and airlines have baulked at the idea that responsibility should lie solely with them. Despite this, the recent arrest of an illegal immigrant threatening destruction within the country highlights the need for action or some sort of plan to be implemented in the near future.

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