Former FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam has raised alarms about visa overstays in the U.S. becoming a significant national security concern, especially in light of a recent terror incident in Boulder, Colorado, which led to the injury of 15 people.
The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, reportedly entered the U.S. on a B1/B2 non-immigrant visa on August 27, 2022, with an expiration set for February 26, 2023. Despite his visa’s expiration, he secured work authorization that lasted until March 2025, just a few months before the attack on a group of peaceful pro-Israel demonstrators.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, approximately 400,000 individuals were recorded as having overstayed their visas in fiscal year 2023. Gilliam highlighted that between 2020 and 2023, over 1.5 million people overstayed their visas, emphasizing that the monitoring of these individuals once they are in the U.S. is exceptionally lax.
“The longer we wait to reform the visa system, the greater the risk of future attacks,” Gilliam warned. He advocates for improved tracking mechanisms and stronger accountability to ensure that individuals on visas are monitored and compliant.
In the case of Soliman, he was employed for a time at Vero Health and Uber while in the U.S., and scrutiny of his movements prior to the attack has brought renewed focus on the need for better oversight of visa holders.
Source: www.foxnews.com
