LOS ANGELES, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., offered to drop her controversial proposal for a six-month moratorium in student visas on the condition that U.S. colleges and universities work more closely with immigration officials keeping tabs on foreign students, particularly those who fail to show up on campus once they are in the country.
The Los Angeles Times said Saturday that Feinstein offered to shelve the proposal after representatives of higher education pledged to do more to ferret out possible terrorists who enter the United States under the guise as students, but then never attend classes and vanish into the general population.
"If we can get cooperation from the schools with regard to student visa reporting requirements, the moratorium will not be necessary," Feinstein said in a statement.
David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, said in a letter to Feinstein that the approximately half-million foreign students attending U.S. colleges represent less than 2 percent of the foreigners who enter the United States every year. Ward said university officials were willing to provide the Immigration and Naturalization Service with more information about their foreign students and would alert the INS if any students failed to show up and enroll.
Feinstein said the INS needed additional time to bring a computerized tracking system on line.
