ZGram - 8/24/2004 - "U.S. to overlook minor overstays by foreign visitors"

zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
Tue Aug 24 06:36:42 EDT 2004





Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

August 24, 2004

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

The U.S. Government, in its various desperate and embarrassingly 
threadbare moves to prevent my husband from getting due process, is 
riding and beating the proverbial dead horse - namely, that Ernst 
entered the US on a visa waiver, overstayed -  and, thus, forfited 
all right and access to due process.

Of course that is baloney - as we can easily prove by travel 
itineraries, airline bookings, hotel and gas station receipts etc.- 
if and when we get to state our case before an impartial judge, if 
such rare wonders still exist.

Even that tenuous government claim of a "visa waiver overstay" gets 
weakened by subsequent government concessions that unheard-of abuses 
to human rights and human dignity came in the wake of the Patriot Act.

One of our media scouts sent me the following:

"Hi, Ingrid -

"I thought you and Ernst might find this news item of some interest. 
It doesn't directly apply to Ernst, but it could be useful to show 
what the intent of US immigration regulations is meant to be."

For the record:

[START]

U.S. to overlook minor overstays by foreign visitors

WASHINGTON (AP) —

The U.S. government will no longer treat foreign visitors harshly 
just because they stayed too long on previous trips, a Homeland 
Security official said Thursday.

  Foreigners allowed to enter the country on passports - those from 27 
so-called visa waiver countries - won't be handcuffed, searched or 
denied entry if they stayed a few days longer than they should have 
on an earlier visit, said Robert Bonner, Customs and Border 
Protection commissioner.

  "They were treated as criminals," Bonner said.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, foreigners who had stayed longer than 
allowed have been denied re-entry and taken into custody if a return 
flight to their home country was not immediately available. The 
treatment has caused some outrage and negative publicity abroad, 
particularly in Britain.

The new policy restores some discretionary authority to inspectors 
that had been stripped after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Inspectors at major airports and other ports of entry will be allowed 
to decide whether the visitor is a security or public threat or plans 
to settle in the country illegally. If not, the officers can allow 
the visitor to enter the country for up to 90 days. For future 
visits, the traveler must have a visa.

Bonner said some visitors stay longer in the United States than 
allowed for good reasons, such as visiting a sick relative or being 
injured and ending up in the hospital. Others miscalculate when they 
should leave, an agency spokeswoman said. An estimated 35 to 40% of 
the illegal immigrant population is made up of people who overstayed.

"We can make judgments and exercise discretion to do something other 
than deny entry for minor technical violation of immigration laws and 
still do our priority mission and that is preventing terrorists from 
entering the United States," Bonner said. "One does not come at the 
cost of the other."

Customs and Border Protection did not immediately know how many 
people the new policy would affect. Between Oct. 1 and June 1, 11 
million visa-waiver travelers were admitted to the United States and 
6,500 were denied entry. Figures on how many of those denied entry 
had previously stayed too long were not immediately available.

(Source: 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-08-12-customs_x.htm>http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-08-12-customs_x.htm 
)




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