Visa Integrity: The Next Frontier in Immigration Enforcement

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Parsing Immigration Policy

Center for Immigration Studies

230 episodes

4 days ago

A weekly discussion of immigration policy matters, both immediate and long-term, with researchers from the Center for Immigration Studies and guests.The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization. Since our founding in 1985 by Otis Graham Jr., we have pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States.

Listen to all episodes of Parsing Immigration Policy at Ricochet.com.

All content for Parsing Immigration Policy is the property of Center for Immigration Studies and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Visa Integrity: The Next Frontier in Immigration Enforcement

Parsing Immigration Policy

35 minutes

3 months ago

Visa Integrity: The Next Frontier in Immigration Enforcement

In this week's episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Jessica Vaughan, the Center's Director of Policy Studies, expands on her recent testimony before the U.S. House immigration subcommittee on “Restoring Integrity and Security to the Visa Process”.

Under the Biden administration, the number of visa applications and issuances increased significantly, which created difficulties for vetting and greater opportunity for visa fraud. Along with host and Center Executive Director Mark Krikorian, Vaughan explores various actions that can be taken by Congress or the Trump administration to address these risks.

Vaughan identifies several possible changes that could be made administratively.

Change the culture of customer service at USCIS and State Department that encourages adjudicators to “get to yes”
Require mandatory interviews of all visa applicants
Narrow the default authorized duration of stay for short-term tourist and business visas to 30 days instead of an automatic six months

Vaughan also discusses visa categories that she believes should be reviewed by Congress to decide if they need to be managed more closely, cut back, or eliminated altogether, including:

Diversity Lottery
U and T visas
Special Immigrant Juvenile visas
Optional Practical Training
J visas

In his closing commentary, Mark Krikorian looks inside the “Big Beautiful Bill” and what its enactment means for immigration policy.

Host

Mark Krikorian in the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guest

Jessica Vaughan is a Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Related

Jessica Vaughan’s oral and written statements

Video of the full hearing, plus all written witness statements

Overview of Immigration Provisions in H.R.1, the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".