Homeland
Security Presidential Directive-2
October 29, 2001
SUBJECT: Combating Terrorism Through Immigration
Policies
A. National Policy
The United States has a long and valued tradition of
welcoming immigrants and visitors. But the attacks of
September 11, 2001, showed that some come to the United
States to commit terrorist acts, to raise funds for
illegal terrorist activities, or to provide other support
for terrorist operations, here and abroad. It is the
policy of the United States to work aggressively to
prevent aliens who engage in or support terrorist
activity from entering the United States and to detain,
prosecute, or deport any such aliens who are within the
United States.
1. Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force
By November 1, 2001, the Attorney General shall create
the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force (Task Force),
with assistance from the Secretary of State, the Director
of Central Intelligence and other officers of the
government, as appropriate. The Task Force shall ensure
that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, Federal
agencies coordinate programs to accomplish the following:
1) deny entry into the United States of aliens associated
with, suspected of being engaged in, or supporting
terrorist activity; and 2) locate, detain, prosecute, or
deport any such aliens already present in the United
States.
The Attorney General shall appoint a senior official as
the full-time Director of the Task Force. The Director
shall report to the Deputy Attorney General, serve as a
Senior Advisor to the Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security, and maintain direct liaison with the
Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) on issues related to immigration and the
foreign terrorist presence in the United States. The
Director shall also consult with the Assistant Secretary
of State for Consular Affairs on issues related to visa
matters.
The Task Force shall be staffed by expert personnel from
the Department of State, the INS, the Federal Bureau of
Investiga-tion, the Secret Service, the Customs Service,
the Intelligence Community, military support components,
and other Federal agencies as appropriate to accomplish
the Task Force's mission.
The Attorney General and the Director of Central
Intelligence shall ensure, to the maximum extent
permitted by law, that the Task Force has access to all
available information necessary to perform its mission,
and they shall request information from State and local
governments, where appropriate.
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With the concurrence of the Attorney General and the
Director of Central Intelligence, foreign liaison
officers from cooperating countries shall be invited to
serve as liaisons to the Task Force, where appropriate,
to expedite investigation and data sharing.
Other Federal entities, such as the Migrant Smuggling and
Trafficking in Persons Coordination Center and the
Foreign Leads Development Activity, shall provide the
Task Force with any relevant information they possess
concerning aliens suspected of engaging in or supporting
terrorist activity.
2. Enhanced INS and Customs Enforcement
Capability
The Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury,
assisted by the Director of Central Intelligence, shall
immediately develop and implement multi-year plans to
enhance the investigative and intelligence analysis
capabilities of the INS and the Customs Service. The goal
of this enhancement is to increase significantly efforts
to identify, locate, detain, prosecute or deport aliens
associated with, suspected of being engaged in, or
supporting terrorist activity within the United
States.
The new multi-year plans should significantly increase
the number of Customs and INS special agents assigned to
Joint Terrorism Task Forces, as deemed appropriate by the
Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury. These
officers shall constitute new positions over and above
the existing on-duty special agent forces of the two
agencies.
3. Abuse of International Student Status
The United States benefits greatly from international
students who study in our country. The United States
Government shall continue to foster and support
international students.
The Government shall implement measures to end the abuse
of student visas and prohibit certain international
students from receiving education and training in
sensitive areas, including areas of study with direct
application to the development and use of weapons of mass
destruction. The Government shall also prohibit the
education and training of foreign nationals who would use
such training to harm the United States or its
Allies.
The Secretary of State and the Attorney General, working
in conjunction with the Secretary of Education, the
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy,
the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, and
any other departments or entities they deem necessary,
shall develop a program to accomplish this goal. The
program shall identify sensitive courses of study, and
shall include measures whereby the Depart-ment of State,
the Department of Justice, and United States academic
institutions, working together, can identify problematic
applicants for student visas and deny their applications.
The program shall provide for tracking the status of a
foreign student who receives a visa (to include the
proposed major course of study, the status of the
individual as a full-time student, the classes in which
the student enrolls, and the source of the funds
supporting the student's education).
The program shall develop guidelines that may include
control mechanisms, such as limited duration student
immigration status, and may implement strict criteria for
renewing such student immigration status. The program
shall include guidelines for exempting students from
countries or groups of countries from this set of
requirements.
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In developing this new program of control, the Secretary
of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of
Education shall consult with the academic community and
other interested parties. This new program shall be
presented through the Homeland Security Council to the
President within 60 days.
The INS, in consultation with the Department of
Education, shall conduct periodic reviews of all
institutions certified to receive nonimmigrant students
and exchange visitor program students. These reviews
shall include checks for compliance with record keeping
and reporting requirements. Failure of institutions to
comply may result in the termination of the institution's
approval to receive such students.
4. North American Complementary Immigration
Policies
The Secretary of State, in coordination with the
Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, shall
promptly initiate negotiations with Canada and Mexico to
assure maximum possible compatibility of immigration,
customs, and visa policies. The goal of the negotiations
shall be to provide all involved countries the highest
possible level of assurance that only individuals seeking
entry for legitimate purposes enter any of the countries,
while at the same time minimizing border restrictions
that hinder legitimate trans-border commerce.
As part of this effort, the Secretaries of State and the
Treasury and the Attorney General shall seek to
substantially increase sharing of immigration and customs
information. They shall also seek to establish a shared
immigration and customs control data-base with both
countries. The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the
Treasury, and the Attorney General shall explore existing
mechanisms to accomplish this goal and, to the maximum
extent possible, develop new methods to achieve optimal
effectiveness and relative transparency. To the extent
statutory provisions prevent such information sharing,
the Attorney General and the Secretaries of State and the
Treasury shall submit to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget proposed remedial
legislation.
5. Use of Advanced Technologies for Data Sharing and
Enforcement Efforts
The Director of the OSTP, in conjunction with the
Attorney General and the Director of Central
Intelligence, shall make recommendations about the use of
advanced technology to help enforce United States
immigration laws, to implement United States immigration
programs, to facilitate the rapid identification of
aliens who are suspected of engaging in or supporting
terrorist activity, to deny them access to the United
States, and to recommend ways in which existing
government databases can be best utilized to maximize the
ability of the government to detect, identify, locate,
and apprehend potential terrorists in the United States.
Databases from all appropriate Federal agencies, state
and local govern-ments, and commercial databases should
be included in this review. The utility of advanced data
mining software should also be addressed. To the extent
that there may be legal barriers to such data sharing,
the Director of the OSTP shall submit to the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget proposed legislative
remedies. The study also should make recommendations,
propose timelines, and project budgetary
requirements.
The Director of the OSTP shall make these recommendations
to the President through the Homeland Security Council
within 60 days.
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6. Budgetary Support
The Office of Management and Budget shall work closely
with the Attorney General, the Secretaries of State and
of the Treasury, the Assistant to the President for
Homeland Security, and all other appropriate agencies to
review the budgetary support and identify changes in
legislation necessary for the implementation of this
directive and recommend appropriate support for a
multi-year program to provide the United States a robust
capability to prevent aliens who engage in or support
terrorist activity from entering or remaining in the
United States or the smuggling of implements of terrorism
into the United States. The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall make an interim report
through the Homeland Security Council to the President on
the recommended program within 30 days, and shall make a
final report through the Homeland Security Council to the
President on the recommended program within 60
days.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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