Rasmussen Reports released a new poll showing that 72% of likely voters believe that the Obama administration is not doing enough to find foreign visitors who overstay their visas and deport them.
This is a huge increase from the 55% that Rasmussen reported three years ago. The survey also found that 68% considered visa overstayers a “serious national security risk”. A little over half of the people who participated in the survey said the Obama administration has made it too easy to get a visa.
This poll comes after a recent Department of Homeland Security report showed that nearly 500,000 foreigners overstayed their visas in fiscal year 2015 alone. This is the first time DHS has created this type of report, even though Congress has been asking for this information for nearly 20 years.
This DHS report was the focus of a recent Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest hearing, which found that DHS had ongoing investigations against only .05% of visa overstays, confirming that visa overstays are not treated as a deportable offense by the Obama administration, according to a press released issued by Sen. Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the subcommittee.
The hearing also repeated the need for a biometric entry/exit system to stop visa overstays and enforce our immigration laws. Congress first mandated an electronic entry/exit system in 1996, yet there is currently no such system in place.
In a recent op-ed published in The Hill, Roy Beck, President of NumbersUSA, wrote:
“Since 1996, an exasperated Congress has passed seven separate laws requiring biometric entry-exit screening. Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama have all failed in their constitutional duty to faithfully execute those laws. And for 20 years, Congress has failed to ensure its laws are taken as more than mere suggestions by the president.
Flouting the law and refusing to implement a system designed specifically to protect Americans from terrorism and job theft is a perfect example of why the American people don’t trust their government to fix the “broken immigration system.”
You can read more about the poll at Rasmussen Reports: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/january_2016/voters_strongly_favor_crackdown_on_those_who_overstay_visas
