Enhancing national security by strengthening the legal immigration system
Abstract : One of the biggest challenges the U.S. contends with is how foreign nationals are using the legal immigration system to embed themselves in the country. While not every person who commits immigration fraud is a terrorist, those who intend to do this country harm will likely engage in some form of immigration fraud or seek to evade immigration laws in order to gain admission into or remain in this country in an immigration status. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the reality that foreign terrorists seek to exploit loopholes in the international travel system to facilitate the planning and implementation of attacks has become clearer. This thesis explores the interconnected relationship between immigration and terrorism. It will illustrate how border security can be strengthened if terrorists' access to immigration benefits is denied. In order to ascertain how terrorist have been able to successfully manipulate the immigration system and avoid detection, this study analyzes the immigration histories of terrorists involved in four case studies. This analysis shows that rather than focus on one benefit category or manner of entry, terrorists will utilize all means available in order to gain admission into or remain in the country. The recommendations provided based on this analysis focus on all facets of the immigration system and apply a holistic approach to immigration reform.
Immigration And Terrorism: Moving Beyond the 9/11 Staff Report on Terrorist Travel
In August 2004, on the last day the 9/11 Commission was statutorily permitted to exist, a 240-page staff report describing the 9/11 Commission border team’s fifteen months of work in the area of immigration, visas, and border control was published on the web. Our report, 9/11 and Terrorist Travel, focused on answering the question of how the hijackers of September 11 managed to enter and stay in the United States. To do so, we looked closely at the immigration records of the individual hijackers, along with larger policy questions of how and why our border security agencies failed us. The goal of this essay is to build on that report in two areas:
On Accessibility as a Human Right, with an Application to Media Accessibility
Greco makes the case that within the human rights framework there is a serious problem regarding accessibility, what he deems the ‘Accessibility as a Human Right Divide’ Problem (AHRD Problem). The AHRD Problem highlights the divide between accessibility as a human right per se versus accessibility as an instrument for the fulfilment of human rights. Greco critically rejects the former, skilfully arguing how accessibility is indeed a proactive principle and that access is a necessary requirement for achieving human rights. As a case in point, Greco closes with an example from South Africa, showing how full acknowledgement of the AHRD Problem, and the interpretation of accessibility as a means, and not an end, has the ability to transform the field of media accessibility.