Visa exit monitoring system need cited

DALLAS, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The case of a Jordanian teen accused of terrorism in Dallas shows the United States still has no reliable way to follow up on expired visas, experts say.

Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, who was in the United States on an expired tourist visa, has been charged with plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. The case demonstrates that eight years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the United States still has no dependable system to verify whether foreign visitors have left, The New York Times reported Monday.

Immigration officials say about 40 percent of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States entered on legal visas and overstayed. Smadi's case has renewed interest in a universal electronic exit monitoring system, the newspaper said.

Much of the more than $1 billion funneled to immigration authorities since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been used to beef up monitoring of foreigners when they arrive, but there is still no follow-up system to keep track of departures, the Times said.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has reportedly indicated he would attempt to apply federal stimulus funding to the building of an exit monitoring system.