President Bush announced on Wednesday that he was "plenty hot" to learn that student visas for Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi were delivered six months after they flew hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center. Bush expressed his displeasure that the two terrorists remained in the immigration pipeline even though the names on the forms were widely known. Bush further stated that Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Commissioner James Ziglar was responsible for "this embarrassing disclosure," but should be given a chance to rectify the problem. On the other hand, Congressman James Sensenbrenner is proposing to replace the INS with two separate agencies that would operate under the control of an assistant attorney general because he thinks Ziglar does not have the proper managerial background to run either agency.

Both Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi sought student visas during the early part of 2001 in order to attend technical schools. According to Russ Bergeron, an immigration agency spokesman, the visa for Atta, of Egypt, was approved in July 2001 while the visa for Al-Shehhi, of United Arab Emirates, was approved the following month. Bergeron stated that the INS had no information regarding these people and their link to terrorism when the visas were granted. However, critics maintain that the INS still had abundant reason to deny Atta's visa request since he left the country and re-entered at least three times on previous expired visas. The third time, in January 2001, Atta aroused the suspicions of immigration officials who pulled him aside and questioned him for an hour. In addition, a warrant was out for his arrest because he skipped a court hearing in May in Broward County, Florida, where he had been arrested for driving without a license. For more information concerning the issued visas, users may access the first site presented by the Washington Post. The second and third sites both delve into Congress's debate over the future of the INS. The fourth article gives information on a combined illegal immigrant bill that was approved on a 275-137 vote by the House. The fifth site provides access to INS's home page for those interested in learning more about the INS and its current practices and procedures. Finally, the last site provides information and services on visas, permanent residence, green cards, and US citizenship.