Presidential Memorandum on Combating High Nonimmigrant Overstay Rates

Earlier this week, President Trump released a memorandum promising increased enforcement against visa overstays, a significant part of the overall undocumented administration.

Section 1 of the memo states as follows:

“Section 1.  Policy.  (a)  My Administration is committed to securing the borders of the United States and fostering respect for the laws of our country, both of which are cornerstones of our Republic.  Nonimmigrant visa (visa) overstay rates are unacceptably high for nationals of certain countries.  Aliens must abide by the terms and conditions of their visas for our immigration system to function as intended.  Although the United States benefits from legitimate nonimmigrant entry, individuals who abuse the visa process and decline to abide by the terms and conditions of their visas, including their visa departure dates, undermine the integrity of our immigration system and harm the national interest.

(b)  The large numbers of aliens who overstay their period of lawful admission, failing to comply with the terms of a visa or the Visa Waiver Program, place significant strain on Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security resources, which are currently needed to address the national emergency on our southern border.”

The memo directs the Departments of State and Homeland Security to take steps on visa overstays.  Critics point to potential problems in the President’s direction to the agencies.  As CNN’s Rafia Zakaria states, 

“The planned Trump crackdown, however, does not target all overstays, nor does it punish all countries with high rates of overstays equally. The sleight of hand lies in the language that the administration is using to construct its case. The presidential memorandum states: `twenty countries have overstay rates of more than 10 percent, some with rates as high as 20, 30 or 40 percent.’ In labeling offending countries based on the percentage of overstays — rather than the total number of overstays — the Trump administration has created a mechanism via which it can punish travelers from largely poor African countries (South Sudan, Chad, Djibouti, Liberia and Somalia, to name a few), instead of countries with the highest number of offenders (Canada).” (emphasis added).

KJ