Homeland Security Loses Track of Nearly 6 Million Immigrants

Following Sept. 11, one would assume that the U.S. government's broken system for tracking illegals would be better than ever.  Unfortunately, reality paints the opposite picture.  Despite being attacked by Middle Eastern terrorists whose visas had expired, the U.S. is still failing to properly examine immigrants' status.

Unfortunately, there are millions of foreigners who initially come here legally, but do not maintain the proper immigration status.  Judicial Watch has more:

...nearly half of the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants actually entered the U.S. legally but overstayed their visa, according to a new federal report. That’s because the agency responsible for keeping the nation safe—the Department of Homeland Security—can’t keep track of immigrants who remain in the U.S. after their visas expire.

This clearly creates a huge national security issue because terrorists can plot more attacks from within. In fact, dozens of foreigners convicted of terrorism since the 2001 attacks had overstayed their visas, according to the report, which was published by the investigative arm of Congress known as the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Surprisingly, Homeland Security has yet to come up with a viable program that can adequately protect the nation.  Aside from the basic fact that the government should ensure, to the best of its ability, that immigration laws are upheld, the fact that terrorists can (and already have) exploited these security loopholes should be cause for concern.

The report offers the following recommendations: draft a "civil overstay plan," revisit systems used to prevent terrorists from exploiting the system and "develop outcome-based performance measures," among other proposals.

With the nation's security at stake, Homeland Security should take heed.