DHS: 9,500 Visas Revoked for Suspected Terror Ties, Unsure How Many Remain in U.S.

Chaffetz: ‘You have no idea how many of those people are in the United States of the revoked Visas?’

CHAFFETZ: “I'm moving on. Mrs Bond, I want you to get back to us with this question. Mrs. Bond, you wrote in your testimony, since 2001 the department revoked approximately 122,000 visas for a variety of reasons including nearly 9,500 for suspected links to terrorism. Of the 122,000 revoked visas, how many of those people are still in the United States?”
BOND: “I don’t know.”
CHAFFETZ: “Doesn’t that scare you?”
BOND: “Many of the people whose visas are revoked were not in the United States when we revoked the visa.”
CHAFFETZ: “You have no idea how many of those people are in the United States of the revoked visas. Do you give those two the Department of Homeland Security?”
BOND: “Exactly. Information is --" 
CHAFFETZ: “So Homeland Security, how many revoked visas are still in the United States of America?”
BERSIN: “Mr. Chairman, I don’t have that —“
CHAFFETZ: “You don’t have a clue, do you? These are people that State Department, State Department, who gave the visas thought about it, got more information and decided, we better revoke that. 9,500 were tied to terrorists and you don’t have a clue who they are, do you?"
BERSIN: “No. Mr. Chairman, please understand that I head up the office of policy. The operational components that would have that information are —“
CHAFFETZ: “When will I get that information?”
BERSIN: “During the reess, we’ll see if we can find that.”
CHAFFETZ: “When will I get that information?”
BERSIN: “If the operational representatives have that information, we’ll provide it to you when this hearing starts up again. If not, we’ll get it to you as soon as we can. I do not administer —“
CHAFFETZ: “Mr. Rodriguez, do you have anything to add to that?”
RODRIGUEZ: “We are not the operational component, so I don’t.”

 

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