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Bilirakis Vies For Better Student Visa Screening

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By BILLY HOUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - A Tampa Bay area congressman is introducing legislation to beef up security measures for the U.S. student visa program, despite the raft of reforms enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks.

GOP Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor said the added measures are necessary in light of the arrests of two foreign-born University of South Florida students after their car carrying explosives was pulled over Aug. 4 in South Carolina.

One of the students, Ahmed Mohamed, also was charged with trying to help terrorists by teaching or demonstrating the use of explosives. He had received a Department of State F-1 nonimmigrant student visa to attend classes at USF.

Both men, one of whom is a legal permanent resident, are being held without bail while awaiting further legal action.

Bilirakis and other lawmakers since have questioned the Department of Homeland Security's ability to adequately monitor foreign students once in the country.

Bilirakis said Tuesday his concerns also come after a classified briefing he received on security and tracking issues related to the USF student case. He did not give details about that briefing.

"My legislation will more concretely align the responsibilities and roles of federal agencies and academic institutions in tracking foreign students and ensuring they are here doing what they came here to do," Bilirakis said.

Specifics Of The Bill

Bilirakis hopes to introduce his bill next week. An outline made available Tuesday shows it would:

•Require universities to keep closer tabs on the activities of foreign students. Under the law passed after Sept. 11, a school has to report within 30 days of the start of an academic term whether the foreign student has enrolled and is showing up for classes.

•Require the school to report if a foreign student quit attending classes later in the academic term for more than 30 days, or when a student is not heard from for 60 days or more during a non-academic period.

•Require colleges or universities to report to the Department of Homeland Security the names of foreign students who transfer to other institutions or programs.

•Require "foreign students to be active participants in the program for which the student was issued a visa to temporarily enter the United States."

•Require "the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a plan to address visa security operations, particularly with regard to student visas, and collect necessary data to monitor performance."

The proposals also specify that Homeland Security personnel assigned overseas to review visa applications conduct thorough criminal or terrorism background checks and not limit their efforts to scanning databases.

Schools Courting Foreign Students

Because the number of international students dipped at schools after the attacks, schools have aggressively recruited them to diversify their enrollments, particularly at the graduate-student level. The number of foreign students rose 3 percent last year, according to the Institute of International Education's most recent figures.

USF spokesman Ken Gullette said that "after 9/11, we complied fully with new regulations by the federal government and will gladly cooperate with any modifications to those regulations.

"The legislation raises many questions - particularly relating to the observation of international students - that are difficult to address without more specifics."

Reporter Adam Emerson contributed to this story. Reporter Billy House can be reached at bhouse@tampatrib.com or (202) 662-7673.

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