Us Orders New Visa Reviews For Arriving Students
the inability of border agents at primary inspection stations to directly review student-visa information. The Homeland Security Department was working before the bombings to resolve the problem, but the new memo outlined interim procedures until the situation was corrected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department ordered border agents to verify that every international student who arrives in the U.S. has a valid student visa, according to an internal memorandum obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The new procedure is the government's first security change directly related to the Boston bombings.
The order, which is effective immediately, came from a senior official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, David J. Murphy. It was circulated Thursday, one day after the Obama administration acknowledged that a student from Kazakhstan accused of hiding evidence for one of the Boston bombing suspects was allowed to return to the U.S. in January without a valid student visa.
The student visa for Azamat Tazhayakov had been terminated when he arrived in New York on Jan. 20. But the border agent in the airport did not have access to the information in the Homeland Security Department's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, called SEVIS.
Tazhayakov was a friend and classmate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Tazhayakov left the U.S. in December and returned Jan. 20. But in early January, his student-visa status was terminated because he was academically dismissed from the university.
Tazhayakov and a second Kazakh student were arrested this week on federal charges of obstruction of justice. They were accused of helping to get rid of a backpack containing fireworks linked to Tsarnaev. A third student was also arrested and accused of lying to authorities.
A spokesman for the department, Peter Boogaard, said earlier this week that the government was working to fix the problem, which allowed Tazhayakov to be admitted into the country when he returned to the U.S.
Under existing procedures, border agents could verify a student's status in SEVIS only when the person was referred to a second officer for additional inspection or questioning. Tazhayakov was not sent to a second officer when he arrived, because, Boogaard said, there was no information to indicate Tazhayakov was a national security threat. Under the new procedures, all border agents were expected to be able to access SEVIS by next week.
The government for years has recognized as a problem
Under the new procedures, border agents will verify a student's visa status before the person arrives in the U.S. using information provided in flight manifests. If that information is unavailable, border agents will check the visa status manually with the agency's national targeting data center.
It is unclear what impact the new procedure will have on wait times at airports and borders. Customs officials will be required to report any effect, including longer waits, on a daily basis.
A Buffalo, N.Y., college has advised student-visa holders from Canada to add two hours to their daily commute. In an email sent to D'Youville College students, staff and faculty, International Student Office Director Laryssa S. Petryshyn said the security change "is causing and will cause numerous delays for all international students entering the United States."
The Obama administration announced an internal review earlier this week of how U.S. intelligence agencies shared sensitive information before the bombings and whether the government could have prevented the attack. Republicans in Congress have promised oversight hearings, which begin Thursday.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday for details from the student-visa applications of Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, the Kazakhstan students implicated in helping Tsarnaev after the bombings, including information about how Tazhayakov re-entered the United States. In a follow-up letter sent Friday, he asked Napolitano for additional details on SEVIS records and the student visa program.
Lawmakers and others have long been concerned about terrorists exploiting the student visa system to travel to the United States. A 20year-old college student from Saudi Arabia was arrested in Texas in 2011 on federal charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Authorities accused him of plotting to blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
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Associated Press reporter Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.
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May 2013
Page 7
Eu To Pledge 520m Euros For Mali Reconstruction the conference on Wednesday.
The European Union will pledge 520m euros (£442m; $673m) to help rebuild Mali at a conference of international donors in Brussels on Wednesday.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the money would help the West African state become "stable, democratic and prosperous".
The conference is the first since France sent troops to oust Islamist rebels from northern Mali in January.
Mali's government has a 4.3bn-euro plan for "a total relaunch of the country".
It includes rebuilding government institutions and the military, repairing damaged infrastructure, organising presidential elections, holding dialogue with rebel groups in the north, and stimulating the economy. 'Good start' After meeting the European Commission chief in Brussels on Tuesday, Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore said he hoped about 2bn euros would be raised at the donors' conference.
"I think that's a good start," he told a news conference. "Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, in a week or in a month, it is clear that the international community, the European Union, will inject a lot more than that." Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
The principal actors in this transition are the Malians themselves and their government”
Jose Manuel Barroso European Commission President
Mr Barroso said the aid would benefit Europe as well as Africa.
"The support of the international community is essential to establish a Mali that is stable, democratic and prosperous," he added. "But the principal actors in this transition are the Malians themselves and their government."
He said the EU welcomed the Transition Roadmap, aimed at establishing a full return to democracy and stability in the country, and the Plan for the Sustainable Recovery of Mali, which Malian officials will present at
Officials say 103 international delegations, including 10 heads of state and government, will attend the meeting, which was organised by Mr Barroso, Mr Traore and French President Francois Hollande. Malian soldiers take aim during a training session with French soldiers in Koulikoro (7 May 2013) Military instructors from various European nations are providing training for the Malian army
Since the French-led military intervention at the start of the year, the Islamist rebels have been pushed back from the main urban centres of northern Mali. However, some fighters have retreated to hideouts in the mountains and desert, from where they launch isolated attacks.
Tens of thousands of refugees also remain in neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger.
France nevertheless began withdrawing the first of its 4,500 troops in the country last month. It hopes to have only 1,000 remaining by the end of the year.
They are due to work alongside peacekeepers from the United Nations' Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali
Mr Traore also told Tuesday's news conference that Mali's presidential elections would take place on 28 July, after months of speculation about the date. He said neither he nor any member of the transitional government would stand in the poll.
BBC international development correspondent Mark Doyle says the Islamists were only able to occupy large parts of Mali in the first place because of because of a weak and corrupt central government.
Rebuilding state institutions is therefore a priority, but it is also an enormous task, our correspondent says.
The aid agency, Oxfam, has said rich countries will have to commit development funding for at least the next 15 years if there are to be sustainable results.