[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 44 (Monday, November 5, 2001)]
[Pages 1570-1573]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Directive on Combating Terrorism Through Immigration Policies

October 29, 2001

 Homeland Security Presidential Directive-2

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

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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 Investigation, 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.
    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 Department 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.
    In developing this new program of control, the Secretary of State, 
the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Education shall consult

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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 database 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 governments, 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.

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

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shall make a final report through the Homeland Security Council to the 
President on the recommended program within 60 days.
                                                George W. Bush

Note: This directive was released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on October 30.