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Sound-Off: Should the U.S. Tighten Up on Student Visas?

Aired October 31, 2001 - 08:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: At least one of the September 11 hijackers was in this country on a student visa, although he never showed up for class. As part of the effort to keep terrorists out of this country, President Bush wants to tighten the system for granting international student visas. That plan has plenty of critics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he has definitely created some anxiety for students, and understandably so. As President Bush came up with his directives, universities are ready, and we have been in compliance, and so we are ready to report what is needed here. However, I think the larger issue is how will this resolve security issues, given that students represent only 2 percent of visa issuers that come to United States. We still have another 98 percent that this does not necessarily address.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: The visa plan the topic of today's "Sound Off." Cliff May, former director of communications for the Republican Party is in favor of the president's plan. Democratic political strategist Bob Beckel, as you might probably predict, is concerned it will amount to racial profiling.

Did I get that right, Bob? I think I did. Good morning all. Nice to have you two with us.

BOB BECKEL, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Good morning, Paula.

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.

ZAHN: All right, cliff, why isn't tightening of standards the same thing as racial profiling?

MAY: Very simple, Paula. Let's say there were a criminal in your neighborhood committing terrible crimes, and the police had a report that it was a white male with a beard and glasses. If I came to visit you, and they questioned me, that wouldn't be racial profiling; that would be following a lead.

Similarly, 19 people were involved in the atrocities of September 11. They came from a small number of countries in the Middle East, and there are 22 people on the FBI's most wanted list, all from small number of countries in the Middle East. It is not racial profiling to look hard at people who may be from those countries in the Middle East; it is following a lead.

ZAHN: Isn't it just following a lead, Bob Beckel?

BECKEL: Well, I heard what you said about the student visa on that terrorist. I'm an American citizen. I didn't go to classes either, but the point here...

ZAHN: We sort of figured that out, Bob.

BECKEL: Wait a minute, please.

ZAHN: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I didn't expect you to be one of those kids that dutifully went to school every day.

BECKEL: You are right, that's profiling.

But here is the point.

ZAHN: Sorry.

BECKEL: Of those people that the people who came in from Saudi Arabia to do this, virtually all of them were Saudi citizens. Now one of the things we know that is in Saudi Arabia, there is a much different standard for issuing a visa than there is, say, in Jordan, or some other Middle Eastern country. Why? Two reasons: oil, the fact they allow soldiers on their land. These -- the right-wingers always jumping on me about gun control, saying "you got enough laws, you know, you don't need any more laws, Bob." Well, there is plenty of law to go after people in the country on student visas and others. There were half a billion people transited to the United States last year. So it is not a question of needing anything more in terms of what they need for law enforcement; somebody didn't do their job. It is simple as that, they fell down.

ZAHN: Doesn't Bob make a valid point there? Would you acknowledge this morning that there are laws in the book that simply aren't being enforced that might prevent some of these students from doing illegal...

BECKEL: Yes, but we...

ZAHN: Yes or no?

MAY: No.

ZAHN: Yes? Oh, no.

MAY: What he just said. We are talking about how many people come through this country, and we have no idea what they are doing here, no idea whatsoever. We need to tighten up on all immigration. We need to know when people are coming here, why they are coming and what they want do. Look, Paula, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are working now to make diseases into weapons to kill thousands of Americans. Now here is the choice that you, and me and Bob have to make: Would we rather risk offending sensibilities of perfectly nice foreign visitor who means no harm, or would we rather take the risk of watching thousands of our children die a long slow and painful death, from smallpox and ebola? I don't think this is a tough decision, but if Bob does, we should go out for some herbal tea and granola and have a discussion of it.

BECKEL: These -- neither of which I have ever tried. But the point is, you say that is it work -- if you were to do that, you pull people off airplanes, Arab-Americans, and Arab businessmen, after Oklahoma City, and it turned out some white cracker from the Midwest who pulled that thing off.

My problem with this is that you the police and others instinctively are going to go after people of Middle Eastern origin. That is a problem. You talk smallpox anthrax. They announced yesterday -- can I speak about this announcement?

ZAHN: Yes, you've got to do it briefly, though, because I need some closing comments from both of you.

BECKEL: OK, I listened to Ridge and Ashcroft talk about this alert; they didn't tell anybody where it was, they did it on a Halloween week. The two still...

ZAHN: Bob, they don't know.

BECKEL: Wait a second.

You talk about lacking confidence, those two guys, the look on their face reminded me two guys went to bed as ministers woke up in a bordello; these guys shocked. Everybody is scared.

MAY: Right, look right now...

ZAHN: All right, final thought. We've got to bring you back to the full issue of final thought on that. And, Bob, you've got stay on message this morning, on the issues -- go ahead.

MAY: Right now, people still can come to this country and take flying lessons. They only want to know how to take off, not how to land. We've got to control who's in our country, know why they are here.

BECKEL: It's no different than picking up a black man driving through Beverly Hills in a Mercedes. It's wrong there; it would be wrong to do here. It's to cover themselves, because they didn't do their job.

ZAHN: Hey, Bob, I think maybe should you try Granola sometime. It's good.

BECKEL: I don't know. You know, it just doesn't take place of pancakes. I don't know.

ZAHN: All right, Bob Beckel, Cliff May, as always a delight.

BECKEL: Happy Halloween.

MAY: Happy Halloween.

ZAHN: I appreciate both of your perspectives.

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