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U.S. Targets Male Muslims With New Visa Requirements
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The State Department said Friday it was tightening visa restrictions for men from predominantly Muslim nations in a move likely to anger many in the Arab and Muslim communities now being courted to support the US-led war on terrorism.
"Those who come to the United States, we're going to check on to make sure that we are safe," Secretary of State Colin Powell said, stressing that the move would be temporary and did not indicate a shift to close off the country.
"We want people to come to our shores, but at the same time, we have to protect ourselves, this will be a temporary measure for a number of countries," he said.
The new policy is a compromise aimed at resolving a dispute between the Justice and State departments.
"[The] Justice [department] wanted to cut off all Arab men from getting visas," one State Department official said. "That was the position they had going into the debate."
The Justice Department wanted to stop granting visas altogether to all males between the ages of 16 to 45 from Muslim countries, according to State Department sources. These new measures are in response to the deadly September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
Starting next week, all men in the specified category submitting visa applications at U.S. embassies and consulates in more than 20 countries will have to wait at least an additional 20 days. The applicants' names will be forwarded to Washington for intensive screening by the FBI, using its own database and other information.
If, after 20 days there is no response from the bureau, then consular officers may proceed with the visa application.
Although the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) handles immigration questions inside the United States, American consulates overseas routinely issue temporary visitors' visas to foreign applicants and the routine waiting time is regularly a few days.
Last month, the State Department secured the agreement of Justice to transfer information from the National Crime Information System to its own system for screening prospective visa applicants. So far, this information has not been combined with what is called the Consular Lookout and Support System.
Male applicants from Muslim countries also will be required to answer a detailed questionnaire directed specifically at them, in addition to the regular visa application.
While that questionnaire is in the draft stages, one official familiar with its development said it would request information on military service, weapons training, details of travel to particular countries and whether the applicant has a history of losing passports.
Three State Department officials confirmed separately that the list of countries where the new policy will be enforced include; Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The new policy could further complicate the State Department's efforts to convince Arab populations that the new war on terrorism is not a war against the Arab or Islamic World. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said repeatedly that the war is not aimed at the Muslim population.
He said it was too soon to tell how Arabs and Muslims would react to the new rule but said Washington would be "sensitive" to any concerns they raised.
"We are sensitive to how it would affect some of our friends and allies around the world," Powell said. "I hope they will understand that this temporary measure is needed for our security."
"We will assure them and reassure them and again reassure them that the United States remains an open country," he said.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher rejected suggestions that the new rules clashed with the U.S. argument that its war against terrorism did not target Muslims indiscriminately or was in any way comparable to the controversial practice of racial profiling by police.
"As a nation we have a right and duty to make sure that our borders are secure," Boucher said.
"We look at people who have certain backgrounds, certain age and certain origins and decide that they might need a more extensive check," he said.
Last week, Powell told reporters that the State Department was reviewing the visa application with two goals in mind. He said the first was to "make sure we remain an open society and let people know they are welcome to come to the United States." But Powell added that the United States should do this "in a way that protects us from people who do not wish us well when they come to the United States."
Draft legislation to overhaul immigration procedures in the United States was introduced Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The bill seeks to restructure the INS, splitting it up into two separate bureaus of border policing and immigration processing to be managed by a new Justice Department office, the Agency for Immigration Affairs.
One of the bill's sponsors, House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin), underlined that 13 of the 19 alleged hijackers of commercial planes that rammed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington had entered the United States legally.
The suspected hijackers used temporary visas to enter the country. Temporary visas are issued for people to attend school, or for business or personal travel.
U.S. authorities have acknowledged that the agency is unable to monitor the activities of tens of thousands of people who break their terms of entry to the United States. President George W. Bush subsequently ordered officials to "tighten up" U.S. visa policies, reported AFP.
CNN reported on Wednesday that federal officials told lawmakers that the U.S. does not know how many foreigners are in the United States illegally after their student visas expired, or they never got to the schools where they were to study.
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