WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The House Education & the Workforce subcommittees on Select Education and 21st Century Competitiveness, chaired respectively by Reps. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), today held a joint hearing to assess how the federal government and colleges and universities track individuals residing in the U.S. with student visas. Today’s hearing was a follow-up to a hearing the committee held on the topic last autumn, just weeks after the September 11 attacks.

“We are here today to learn what has occurred since that last hearing and the tragic events of September 11 to preserve the safety and security of our citizens, while at the same time preserving the right of those seeking to enter the United States to avail themselves to the best education the world has to offer,” said Rep. McKeon.

“Clearly, security for the citizens of the United States must be our priority. However, we also want to ensure that students from around the world continue to have access to the best postsecondary education system available,” said Rep. Hoekstra. “We also want to continue the sharing of cultures and ideas, which makes the world in which we live safer overall by removing many stereotypes and misperceptions.”

Bush Administration officials outlined steps taken by the federal government since September 11 to improve homeland security, including implementing the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

Glenn Fine, the U.S. Department of Justice’s inspector general, said the SEVIS system will “significantly enhance the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s ability to monitor foreign students in the United States and will improve its ability to prevent and detect fraud.”

Janis Sposato, assistant deputy executive associate of the Immigration Service Division in the INS, testified that SEVIS will allow the INS to track students more “accurately and more expeditiously.”

The tracking system “will revise and enhance the process by which foreign students and exchange visitors gain admission to the United States,” Sposato said. “SEVIS better enables us to keep our eyes open for and track those who may come to America for the wrong reason, while extending a hand in friendship to those seeking the knowledge that this great country has to offer.”

“Implementing SEVIS will allow our nation to strike the proper balance between openness to international students and exchange visitors and the security obtained by enforcing our nation’s laws,” Sposato added.

Stephen Edson of the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs testified that while the need for heightened security measures is “abundantly clear,” it is “a tribute to the quality of the education system in the United States, and to the opportunities offered by a myriad of U.S. educational and cultural exchange programs, that so many foreign nationals continue to pursue academic and cultural opportunities here.

“Our student and exchange visitor visa policy is based on the democratic values of an open society, and the general perception that such visitors make an important contribution to our nation's intellectual and academic climate as well as to our nation's economy,” Edson noted.

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