Once again lawmakers have proposed legislation that will give the illusion of safety, while in reality only provide college campuses with more work.

The U.S. Senate is now debating and will most likely pass the Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001, which will require college campuses to provide the government with information from all international students on a regular basis.

The intentions behind the bill are valid, but in reality the Visa Entry Reform Act will accomplish little if anything.

One of the Sept. 11 terrorists entered the country on a student visa, but after getting through customs, he never went to college and disappeared.

Congress wants to stop this from happening. The act would mandate that colleges provide the government with enrollment information as well as student status at the institution for each and every international student who attends classes on a student visa. But this bill ignores the crux of the problem. The terrorist who participated in the terrorist acts never enrolled in classes. This bill doesn’t solve that problem.

The bill has no way to deal with international students who pass through customs with the official paper work with the intention to go to school but never enroll. The policy change also couldn’t track those who attend a semester or two of college and then drop out. If an international student moved and then stopped attending classes, the universities’ information would be outdated. A possible terrorist could still enter the country on a student visa.

What the bill does is keep close tabs on the law-abiding international students, so the rest of us think the government is making sure possible terrorists are monitored.

The country is rightfully afraid of a future attack, and Congress is rightfully trying to find ways to keep the country safe, but this bill fails to do so. And if the government took the actions necessary to make sure international students followed the laws as they pertain to student visas, major issues involving a person’s privacy would come into play.

The government shouldn’t pass laws, such as the Visa Entry Reform Act, which give the illusion of safety. That illusion is what lulled this country to sleep in the first place.

This editorial comes from the Daily Utah Chronicle at the University of Utah. This column was distributed by U-Wire.

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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002