The Front Page
Washington Post sneers at self-deportation.
2/9/2012 - NAFBPO responds.
Latino organizations play the race card.
11/28/2011 - Latino organizations and some politicians place ethnic solidarity above the national interest of their country.
BP Transportation check discontinued.
10/6/2011 - The office of Customs and Border Patrol has told field units to stop enforcement efforts at transportion terminals.
NAFBPO calls for a Special Prosecutor to Investigate Operation Fast & Furious.
9/25/2011 - Over our careers NAFBPO officers were involved in many, many investigations of illegal conduct. Operation Fast & Furious went so far afield from what is acceptable investigative conduct, and the political and diplomatic stakes are so high that the Department of Justice cannot be trusted to get to the bottom of it. Thus, we believe only an Independent Counsel will serve justice. .
NAFBPO declines to endorse E-Verfify Bill.
7/21/2011 -H.R.2164 would make mandatory the use of E-Verify by all employers in the U.S. This bill, while good overall, contains a fatal flaw that can be remedied easily. Click the button to read our letter that explains why we cannot support this otherwise-desirable piece of legislation.
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Immigration 101 - Lessons for the Public.
The phenomenon of immigration is getting a great deal of public attention. In the space below NAFBPO will attempt to educate the readers about some of the fundamentals of the subject. After one subject is replaced with another, a link to the subject that was replaced will be placed at the bottom of the column.
Many people who do not travel internationally (and that is most people in the USA) are kind of fuzzy on what these things are and what they are for. Let's see if this helps; we'll keep it simple.
They want to know who you are because, well, they just do, kind of like you want to know someone is before you are let him into your home. Among other things, it lets them check their "bad guy index." Some places call that a "watch list" and others, a "lookout book," but by any name it is a list of people that country does not want within its borders. Or perhaps they do want him there because they, or someone, have warrants for his arrest or something else. Regardless of the reason, most countries require that you show them a passport before they will let you in (see closing note* for a word about exceptions.)
When a country lets an alien into its borders it wants to know that there is someplace for him to go when it is time to leave, that is, there is at least one other country (the one that issued the passport) that will take him back. This also comes into play if an alien is to be deported; there must be a country willing to accept him before he can be removed. The passport shows that there is such a country.
Therefore, when an alien shows up at a U.S. port of entry wanting to come into the U.S. as a visitor he will have to show a passport, and with
some exceptions,** that passport must be valid for six months longer than he intends to stay here. If it is not, then the period of stay he will be granted will be limited by the expiration of the passport.
So, a passport is an official document issued by a government that identifies a particular person as a citizen of the issuing country. It will carry a photograph, name, and date of birth, and usually, place of birth as well as a document number and an expiration date. There may be other data as well, such as occupation or ethnicity. Pages are numbered. The International Civil Aviation Organization recommends standards for passport formats. Under those standards a passport will take the form of a booklet that will fit in a shirt pocket and most governments follow the recommendation, but there is no legal international standard for what form a passport must take; that is the decision of the issuing country. Just as with currency, passports have security features to prevent alteration, impersonation or counterfeiting. The passport is the property of the issuing government; it does not belong to the person it is issued to, and that government may demand that the holder surrender it.
First Thing, remember this: No one has a right to enter a country unless he is a citizen of that country. And that means he has no entitlement to a visa; the issuance of a visa is purely at the discretion of the country he wants to visit.
A visa is a formal authorization granted by the government of a country to a foreigner (an "alien" - see previous article) who wishes to enter that country. Visas are usually issued for specific purposes, such as tourism or business or study, and so forth; those are generally referred to as "nonimmigrant visas," that is, they are issued to people who intend to go to country B for a temporary period, even if it is a long period. An "immigrant visa" is issued to someone who intends to take up permanent residence in that country; they are usually far more difficult to obtain than a visitor's visa. Different countries have varying requirements that must be satisfied before any type of visa is issued.
If a citizen of country "A" wants to travel to country "B" he presents his valid passport to the embassy or consular office of country "B" and applies for a visa. A visa officer examines the application, satisfies himself as to its accuracy and truthfulness (visa fraud is common) and the ability of the applicant to do what he says he wants to do and then (in a perfect world) conducts record checks for criminal or other bad activities. If all is clear, then he issues the visa.
If the traveller meets the legal requirements of country "B" might (such as a tourist having a round-trip ticket and money or a student having proof of acceptance at a school) the visa is then granted. Generally, it takes the form of an official stamp in the passport of the traveler. It may bear notations that show an expiration date or even how many times it can be used. Different countries have different laws about what visas authorize, so let us just address U.S. visas here. A U.S. nonimmigrant visa is a sort of "license" to come to our borders and apply to enter; it allows the United States to "pre-screen" people before they get here. An airline or shipping company or railroad will not allow a person to board for travel to the U.S. until they have seen his passport and visa. A visa does not guarantee the holder the right to enter and the visa's expiration date has no bearing on how long stay will be permitted. That is up to the immigration officer at the port of entry.
If the immigration officer is satisfied that the alien is coming for the purpose the visa permits he "admits" the alien and stamps the passport with an entry stamp. There may be more involved, but that is beyond the scope of this discussion of passports and visas.
*With respect to what is required for travel between countries, most countries operate on a basis "reciprocity." that is, they treat each other's people the same as far as required documents go. If the U.S. demands that a Russian have a passport and get a visa to come to the U.S. then Russia will demand the same of an American going there. Before 9/11 passports were waived in many cases; alternate documents, such as a driver's license or birth certificate for Canadian visitors to the U.S. Terrorists have changed that; now passports are required of nearly everyone going anywhere.
**The U.S. has reciprocal agreements with many countries saying that the U.S. and those countries each recognize their own passports as being valid for six months after the expiration date shown in the passport. What that means in practical terms is that the passport need only be valid on the day it is presented at the Port of Entry, not for six months after the date the person shows it to an immigration officer there.
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