Immigrant re-registration abandoned

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031201-041137-3599r

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The United States has ended its requirement men from 25 mostly Muslim countries register with the authorities every year they are in the country.

The program has yielded no terror leads, U.S. Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson announced Monday.

The Department for Homeland Security first required registration for male visitors over age 16 from five countries identified as state sponsors of terrorism -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria -- in November last year. Later the program was expanded to include male nationals of 19 other Muslim nations and North Korea. Registering visitors were interviewed, photographed and fingerprinted.

The 177,260 foreign men who have registered under the program were required to re-register 30 days later and again one year after their initial registration.

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[Paschall]

1. Doh!

<snip> The re-registrations had only revealed immigration violators, not terrorists, Hutchinson said. "I cannot point to any national security gains that came from those (re-registration requirements)," Hutchinson said Monday. </snip>

They might have cut down on paperwork and bureaucratic cost if they'd only required terrorists to register! :eyes:

Still, almost 3000 men and boys have been detained and deported, or left the country voluntarily because of this waste. And 13,000 more still face deportation.