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For example, Danielle Cristina Rodrigues dos Santos, who arrived at MIA on June 9 on a flight from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, was arrested after admitting to CBP that she lied on her visa application to conceal a prior 10-year overstay. Rodrigues’ attorney declined to comment on the case.
A State Department official said U.S. consuls abroad do not accept a visa applicant’s claims without verification. But the official indicated that in some cases the information to verify an applicant’s statements is not readily available.
“Even as we welcome increasing numbers of travelers to our shores, security remains our highest priority,” the State Department official said. “We take our role in protecting our borders very seriously, and we believe that every visa decision is a national security decision.”
Another issue that may make it difficult for U.S. immigration officials to quickly discover overstays is the lack of departure control at airports and borders.
U.S. passport control officers do not examine the documents of departing international passengers. At airports, airline personnel are expected to retrieve arrival forms from departing foreign visitors.
The bipartisan immigration bill the Senate passed June 26 would mandate the creation of a system to track the departure of foreign nationals by air and sea. The bill would also seek to improve methods to detect visa overstays.
Dozens of visa fraud cases have appeared on magistrate dockets in Miami federal court over the past year and a university research center that tracks immigration law violations shows an increase in visa fraud prosecutions around the country.
A report released in April by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) showed that visa fraud criminal prosecutions now rank third among the top 10 immigration law prosecutions in the country.
Also, a Government Accountability Office report issued in September said the State Department screens visa applicants for fraud.
But GAO auditors found that consulates do not systematically employ methods to prevent fraud.
“State has a variety of technological tools and resources to assist consular officers in combating fraud, but does not have a policy for their systematic use,” the GAO report said.
In response, the State Department said it generally agreed with GAO findings and would implement recommendations to improve fraud tracking .
The GAO report said the top 10 countries where visa fraud occurs are China, Dominican Republic, Mexico, India, Brazil, Ghana, Cambodia, Jamaica, Peru and Ukraine.
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