DHS: More than 600K foreign travelers overstayed visas in 2016
The Department of Homeland Security reported that more than 600,000 travelers who arrived in 2016 legally overstayed in the United States.
DHS said that it will provide on daily basis updated information about people who overstayed their visas to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The report issued in January 2016 but released on Monday, gives government and immigration officials a second year of data that potentially provides insights into countries and visa categories. They also warned they will pubish a list on regular basis looking for the foreigners who stayed.
The figure represents a tiny portion of the estimated 50 million visitors to the country; officials say it represents a national security risk.
The highest rates of overstays were from countries outside the visa-waiver program, according to the New York Times research.
The Department of Homeland Security has struggled to document visa overstays due to the lack of an exit system. The inspector general's report had to be piece together with information from dozens of databases coming from airlines, shipping manifest, among others.
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