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Bush Announces Creation of "Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force"
US President George W. Bush announced the creation of a "Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force" on Monday to prevent terrorists from entering the US by tightening up enforcement of immigration policies.
Announcing the decision at the first meeting of his Homeland Security Council, Bush said the task force would require immigration authorities to tighten control on student visas.
"Our task is to do everything we can to protect the American people from any threat whatsoever," Bush said. "Along these lines, we've set up a foreign terrorist tracking task force to make sure that the land of the free is as safe as possible from people who might come to our country to hurt people."
"We welcome legal immigrants. We welcome people coming to America. We welcome the process that encourages people to come to our country to visit, to study or to work," he said.
"What we don't welcome are people who come to hurt the American people, and so therefore, we're going to be very diligent with our visas and observant with the behavior of people who come to this country," he said.
Bush has directed his aides to study the foreign student visa system and recommend ways to tight controls, a White House official said.
The president also instructed the Justice, Treasury and State Departments to work with Canada and Mexico on sharing customs and immigration information.
Some hijackers who were involved in the September 11 reportedly entered the United States legally with student visas. Some 600,000 foreigners are admitted each year on student visas and more than 26,000 U.S. colleges and universities are authorized to enroll them.
The task force was established to coordinate efforts by government agencies to prevent those with links to terror organizations from entering the country and work to "locate, detain, prosecute or deport" any such foreigners who are already in the country.
It will be led by Attorney General John Ashcroft and will include experts from the State Department, FBI, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Secret Service, Customs, and the intelligence community.
The task force was established as the Bush administration continues to warn Americans of the possibility of more terror attacks against U.S. and U.S. interests.
"We believe that the country must stay on the alert, that our enemies still hate us," Bush said.
On Monday, Attorney General John Ashcroft warned that there may be additional terrorist attacks within the United States and against U.S. interests abroad within the week.
The administration viewed the threat as "credible," Ashcroft said at a press conference here, but unfortunately it did not contain specific information as to the type of attack or specific targets.
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